PRINCETON,  N.  J. 

No.  Case^ 

No.  Shelf,       'gcti 

No.  Book, 


'Vbc  .loliii   :>1.  liiebs  Donation. 


X 


,_i>C--t— '- 


AN 

ESSxW 

ON 

THE  IDENTITY 

AND 

GENERAL  RESURRECTION 

OF    THE 

HUMAN    BODY: 

a 

IN    WHICH 

THE  EVli:rEN"CES 

IN    FAVOUR    OF    THESE    IMPORTANT    SUBJECTS 
ARE  CONSIDERED, 

IN 

Eelatian  fact})  to  P!)il00ap6i)  auH  g^cctpture. 

— '"T" 

£Y  SAMUEL  DREW, 

AUTHOU    OF 

AN  ESSAY  ON  THE  IMMATERIALITY  AND  IMMORTALITY 
OF    THE    HUMAN    SOUL. 

"  Why  should  it  be  thought  with  you  a  thing  incredible  that  GOD  should  raise  the 
dead  V  '  St.  Paul,    i^ti  xxvi.  ». 


BROOKLY^^: 

PRINTED    BY    THOMAS    KIRK, 

FOR    THE    PUBLISHER. 

1811- 


ADDRESS 


TO 


THE  READER. 


Wi 


HEN  a  Book  on  an  abstruse  and  important 
subject  is  offered  to  the  world,  the  situation  of  its 
Autiior,  if  in  humble  life,  rarely  fails  to  excite 
attention.  Under  these  circumstances,  it  is  much 
easier  for  him  to  awaken  curiosity,  than  to  gratify 
it.  But  it  is  always  in  his  power  to  satisfy  the 
reasonable  inquiries  of  those,  who  feel  solicitous 
to  know  something  of  the  person  who  thus  pub- 
licly introduces  himself  to   their  notice. 

Cariosity  is  natural  to  the  mind  of  man  ;  and^ 
when  confined  within  proper  limits,  it  has  a  bene- 
ficial tendency.  It  seeks,  indeed,  for  gratification 
from  various  quarters  ;  but  it  is  not  very  fastidious 
whence  or  liovv  it  is  obtained:  It  gerierally  fixes 
upon  extremes  ;  upon  the  great,  and  upon  the  lit- 
tle ; — ^and,  as  it  respects  authors,  upon  the  giants, 
and  upon  the  dwarfs  in  literary  pretensions.  On 
these  accounts,  it  is  not  necessarily  a  flattering  com- 
pliment to  become  an  object  of  its  pursuit. 


iv  ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER. 

The  life  and  studies  of  the  learned  author, 
■whom  a  liberal  education — uninterrupted  leisure — • 
and  acknowledged  abilities,  have  raised  to  the  chair 
of  science,  and  invested  with  a  degree  of  authority 
to  impart  instruction,  are  subjects  well  deserving 
the  attention  of  the  biographer.  But  curiosity 
frequently  wishes  to  know  something  also  con- 
cerning those,  who,  in  humble  life,  have  been 
brought  up  in  no  school  but  that  of  nature ; 
and  who,  in  opposition  to  difliculties  and  discou- 
ragements, come  forward  and  offer  to  the  v/orld, 
the  fruits  of  their  labour  in  the  field  of  literature. 
It  is  a  region  in  which  they  seem  to  be  intruders, 
and  where  they  professedly  ujidertake  investiga- 
tions, which  thtir  confined  means  of  knowledge, 
and  unpromising  powfcrs,  appear  inadequate  to 
perform. 

Metaphysical  researches  are  so  far  removed  from 
manual  labour  and  humble  life,  that  many  have 
expressed  their  surprize  that  they  should  ever 
have  t)een  united.  Hence,  as  it  respects  myself, 
the  question  has  repeatedly  been  asked, — "What 
circumstances  led  to  so  unlikely  an  association  ?" 
The  replies  which  this  question  naturally  produced, 
induced  several  of  my  friends,  in  whose  judgments 
I  feel  a  strong  confidence,  and  to  whose'  g^^od 
offices  1  stand  indebted,  to  communicate  their  opr- 
nions,  that  it  would  afford  some  gratification  to  a 
great  number  of  those,  whose  names  are  affixed  to 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER.'  v 

this  work,  if  I  would  trace  those  incidents  of  my 
life,  which  gradually  led  to  such  an  unlocked  for 
event. 

When  their  wishes  were  first  expressed,  I  slirunk 
back  from  the  suggestion,  not  only  through  an  ap- 
prehension that  I  should  incur  the  charge  of  vani- 
ty ;  but,  especially;  as  on  a  review  of  my  life,  I  saw 
nothing  remarkable  which  was  worthy  of  record. 
On  this  ground,  I  declined  to  comply  widi  their  de- 
sires. The  renewed  solicitations  of  these  friends, 
soq^iy  however,  assumed  the  shape  and  tone  of  a  re- 
quest. And,  consistently  with  that  debt  of  grati- 
tude which  I  owed  them,  I  found  it  impossible  to 
withhold  a  compliance  without  subjecting  myself  to 
the  charge  of  being  influenced  by  a  passion  nearly 
allied  to  that  vanity,  the  imputation  of  which  I 
dreaded  to  incur.  This  circumstance  inclined  me 
to  alter  my  prior  resolution. 

In  thus  submitting  to  their  importunities,  T  artl 
furnlbhed  with  an  opportunity  of  apologizing  for 
those  imperfections,  which,  without  doubt  are  in- 
cluded in  my  work  ;  and  of  placing  the  disinterest- 
edness and  generosity  of  my  Subscribers  in  a  con- 
spicuous light,  by  briefly  declaring  to  the  world  on 
whom  it  has  been  bestowed.  The  little  narrative 
may  probably  afford  some  encouragement  to 
^  others  ;  who,  poor  and  unknown,  may  at  this  mo- 
ment be  struggling  v/ith   adversity,  and  attempting 


vi  ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER. 

to  emerge  from  obscurity.  It  will  add  another  exam- 
ple to  mdn}^  which  may  be  adduced,  and  thereby 
assure  them,  that  in  this  comparatively  happy  coun- 
try, poverty  and  the  want  of  education,  are  no  ob- 
stacles to  patronage  and  support.  On  one  account 
I  gladly  embrace  the  occasit-n  which  is  now  afford- 
ed me.  It  is  that  of  recording  the  obligations 
whicli  I  owe  to  a  man  of  eminent  character  and 
abilities,  who  is  now  no  more,  but  whose  memory  I 
hope,   1  shall  never  cease  to  respect  and  revere. 

By  this  plain  statement,  I  feel  a  hope  that  I 
shall  secure  myself  from  the  censures  of  the  can- 
did and  liberal  minded ;  they  will  enter  into  my 
views,  and  place  a  proper  estimate  on  my  motives. 
With  ihe  envious  and  the  malevolent,  I  cannot 
expect  the  same  success.  For  I  no  more  flatter 
myself  with  the  thought  that  I  can  escape  their 
detraction,  than  with  the  expectation  that  I  can 
cure  them  of  those  passions,  which  must  give 
greater  pain  to  such  as  cherish  them,  than  it  is  in 
their  power  to  inflict  on  others.  My  narrative 
which  follows,  is  little  more  than  the  simple 
monotony  of  humble  life.  But  on  these  ac- 
counts, 

"  Let  not  ambition  mock  their  useful  toil, 

"  Tiieir  liumble  joys  and  destiny  obscure, 

"  Nor  grandeur  hear  with  a  disdainful  smile, 

«  The  short  and  simple  annals  of  the  poor."  , 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER.  Vu 

I  was  born  in  the  parish  of  St.  Austell,  in  the 
county  of  Cornwall,  on  the  third  day  of  March, 
1765.  My  father,  who  was  a  labouring  tnan,  sup- 
ported his  fa»uily,  which  consisted  of  a  wife  and  fout 
children,  in  creditable  poverty,  by  dint  of  applica- 
tion, industry,  and  frugality.  But  though  neither 
of  my  parents  was  ignorant  of  the  importance  of 
education,  such  were  their  circumstances  that  it 
was  not  in  their  power  to  afford  me  any,  except 
that  acquired  at  a  little  reading- school,  in  which  I 
merely  learned  the  knowledge  of  my  letters.  ^c\e 
my  education  ended,  for  to  a  writing- school  I  never 
was  promoted. 

At  the  age  of  seven,  I  was  obliged  to  go  to  work, 
and  for  my  labour,  my  parents  received  two  pence 
per  day.  The  next  year  I  had  the  misfortune  to 
lose  my  mother,  and  many  a  time  since — 

This  throbbing  breast  has  heav'd  the  heartfelt  sigh, 
And  breath'd  afflictions  where  her  ashes  lie. 

Soon  after  this,  my  father  removed  into  another 
neighbourhood  ;  and  at  the  age  of  ten  years  and  a 
half,  I  was  bound  an  apprentice  to  a  shoemaker,  in 
the  parish  of  St.  Blazey. 

Prior  to  this  time  I  acquired  some  knowledge  of 
writing,  but  it  amounted  to  Jittle  more  than  merely 
to^  know  how  to  make  the  letters  of  the  alphabet, 
and  to  write  my  name.  And  this  knowledge,  scan- 
ty as  it   was,   I  nearly  lost  during  my  apprentice- 


vUi  ADDRESS  TO  THE  ,READER. 

ship ;  but  towards  the  latter  years  of  the  term,  I 
nude  some  progress  in  my  reading.  This  1  attri- 
bute ch'cfly  to  the  opportunity  which  I  then  had  of 
perusing  the  Weekly  Entertainer,  published  by 
Messrs.  Goadby  and  Co.  of  Sherborne.  In  these 
miscellanies,  such  narratives  as  were  affecting,  and 
3uch  anecdotes  as  were  pointed,  were  the  principal 
objects  which  attracted  my  notice.  And  among 
these,  nothing  excited  my  attention,  so  much  as 
the  adventures,  vicissitudes,  and  disasters,  to  which 
the  A^e^ican  war  gave  rise. 

On  quitting  my  master,  I  procured  employment 
in  the  vicinity  of  Plymouth.  Here,  the  necessity 
of  earning  my  own  livelihood  engrossed  all  my  at- 
tention :  so  that  the  same  cause  which  removed  me 
from  perusing  the  Weekly  Miscellany,  nearly 
quenched  all  my  desires  after  further  knowledge. 
After  labouring  in  this  neighbourhood  about  four 
years,  I  returned  to  St.  Austell,  to  which  place  I 
was  attracted  by  the  advance  of  wages.  In  this 
town  it  was  my  lot  to  conduct  the  shoemaking  bu- 
siness for  a  man  who  is  now  in  America :  he  was 
an  eccentric  character,  but  by  no  means  destitute  of 
understanding.  lijs  original  occupation  was  that 
of  a  saddler,  and  through  his  own  application  he  had 
obtained  some  knowledge  of  bookbinding.  To 
these  employments  he  superadded  the  manufacture 
of  shoes,  and  in  one  shop  carried  on  these  three 
trades  together. 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER.       ix 

In  this  situation,  I  found  myself  surrounded 
by  books  of  various  descriptions,  and  felt  my  taste 
for  the  acquirement  of  information  return  with  re- 
newed vigour,  and  increase  in  proportion  to  the 
means  of  indulgence,  which  were  now  placed  fully 
within  my  reach.  But  here  some  new  difficulties 
occurred,  with  which  I  found  it  painful  to  grapple. 
My  knowledge  of  the  import  of  words  was  as  con- 
tracted, as  my  ideas  were  scanty  ;  so  that  I  found 
it  necessary  to  keep  a  dictionary  continually  by  my 
side  whilst  I  was  reading,  to  which  I  was  compel- 
led constantly  to  refer.  This  was  a  tedious  process. 
But  in  a  little  time  the  difficulty  wore  away,  and  my 
horizon  of  knowledge  became  enlarged. 

Among  other  books  which  were  brought  to  be 
bound,  it  happened  that  Mr.  Locke's  Essay  on  the 
Human  Understanding  made  its  appearance.  This 
was  a  work  of  which  I  had  never  heard.  I  occasion- 
ally opened  the  volumes,  and  read  a  few  pages,  but 
rather  with  amazement  than  satisfaction ;  and  from, 
that  moment  began  to  reflect  on  the  intellectual 
powers  of  man.  In  doing  this,  I  could  not  but  draw 
a  contrast  between  my  own  mental  condition  and 
that  of  others.  This  awakened  me  from  my  stu- 
per,  and  induced  me  to  form  a  resolution  to  aban- 
don the  grovelling  views  which  I  had  been  accus- 
tomed to  entertain  of  things,  and  to  quit  the  prac- 
tices of  my  old  associates. 

B 


X  ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER. 

Soon  after  this,  I  engaged  in  business  for  my- 
self, when  the  pressure  of  trade,  and  pecuniary  em- 
barrassments, retarded  my  progress  in  mental  ac- 
quirements, but  stimulated  my  endeavours  to 
emerge  from  ignorance.  By  unremitting  industry, 
I  at  length  surmounted  such  obstacles  as  were  of  a 
pecuniary  nature  :  this  enabled  me  to  procure  as- 
sistance in  my  labours,  and  afforded  me  the  com- 
mon relaxation  which  others  enjoyed.  This  was 
the  only  leisure  at  which  I  aimed.  In  this  situa- 
tion, I  felt  an  internal  vigour  prompting  me  to  ex- 
ertions, Iiut  1  was  unable  to  determine  what  direc- 
tion I  should  take.  The  sciences  lay  before  me. 
I  discovered  charms  in  each,  but  I  was  unable  to 
embrace  them  all,  and  hesitated  in  making  a  selec- 
lion.     I  had  learned  that    ' 

"  One  science  only  would  one  genius  fit, 
"  So  vast  is  art,  so  narrow  human  wit.'* 

At  first  I  felt  such  an  attachment  to  astronomy,  that 
I  resolved  to  confine  my  views  to  the  study  of  that 
science ;  but  I  soon  found  m.ysclf  too  defective  in 
arithmetic  to  make  any  proficienc)'.  Modern  his- 
tory was  my  next  object  ;  but  I  quickly  discovered 
that  more  books  and  time  were  necessary  tlian  I 
could  possibly  either  afford  or  spare,  and  on  this 
account  history  was  abandoned.  In  the  region  of 
metaphysics  I  saw  neither  of  the  above  impedi- 
ments.    It   nevertheless   appeared  to  be  a  thornr 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER.  xi 

path,  but  I  determined  to  enter,   and  accordingly 
began  to  tread  it. 

During  several  years,  all  my  leisure  hours  were 
devoted  to  reading  :  but  I  do  not  recollect  that  it 
ever  interrupted  my  business,  though  it  frequently 
broke  in  upon  my  rest.  On  my  labour  depended 
my  livelihood.  Literary  pursuits  were  only  my 
amusement.  Common  prudence  had  taught  me  the 
lesson  which  the  following  sentences  so  happily  con- 
vey. "  Secure  to  yourself  a  livelihood  indepen- 
dently of  literary  successes,  and  put  into  this  lottery 
only  the  overplus  of  time.  Woe  to  him  who  .de- 
pends wholly  on  his  pen  ;  nothing  is  more  casual. 
The  man  who  makes  shoes  is  sure  of  his  wagf  s, 
the  man  who  writes  a  book  is  never  sure  of  any 
thing."     Marmontd. 

Nothing,  however,  amidst  the  various  subjects 
which  engrossed  my  thoughts  could  be  more  remote 
from  my  views  and  intentions  than  that  of  commen- 
cing author.  But  this  improbable  event  was  occa-- 
sioned  by  the  following  incident.  When  Mr.  Tho- 
mas Payne  published  his  "  Age  of  Reason,"  it  un- 
happily made  too  many  converts.  Among  these 
was  a  young  gentleman  of  good  natural  talents 
which  had  been  improved  by  a  liberal  education, 
who  frequently  visited  my  shop,     lie  enquired  one 


xii  ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER. 

day,  whether  I  had  ever  seen  this  pamphlet  ?  and  on 
finding  that  I  had  not,  he  put  it  into  my  hands  on 
condition  that  I  should  read  it  through,  and  finally 
give  him  my  opinion  on  the  doctrines  which  it  in- 
culcated. This  1  promised  to  do  ;  and  occasion- 
ally wrote  down  such  remarks  as  occurred  during 
my  reading  of  the  work,  and  such  as  I  could  recol- 
lect to  have  made  in  the  numerous  conversations 
with  him  to  which  this  incident  gave  rise.  The 
young  man  is  now  in  internity.  But  I  am  happy  to 
state,  that,  prior  to  his  illness,  he  acknowledged 
that  the  de-sign  which  he  had  in  view  in  putting  the 
''^  Age  of  Reason"  into  my  hands,  was  to  proselyte 
me  to  its  principles  ;  but  that  having  failed  in  pro- 
ducing that  effect,  he  had  been  induced  first  to 
suspect  their  validity,  and  then  to  abandon  them  al- 
together. These  **  Remarks  on  the  Age  of  Rea- 
son," I  revised  as  well  as  I  was  able,  and  after- 
wards, v/ith  some  additions,  published  them  to  the 
world  in  1799.  This  was  done  with  a  design  that 
the  *'  Remarks  might  produce  in  others,  effects  simi- 
lar to  those  which  had  already  resulted  from  them." 

It  was  this  pamphlet  which  first  excited  the  no- 
tice of  my  greatly  respected  and  much  lamented 
friend,  the  late  Rev.  John  Whitaker,  who,  from 
principles  of  benevolence,  rather  than  a  discovery 
of  merit,  was  pleased  lo  recommend  it  to  the  notice 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER.  xiii 

of  the  Antijacobin  Review.  In  this  literary  jour- 
nal,  the  reviewers  permitted  the  laudableness  of  the 
attempt  to  outweigh  the  imperfections  of  the  per- 
formance, and  spoke  of  it  in  terms  which  have 
made  me  their  debtor.  I  shall  be  happy  if  the  pre- 
sent work  pass  with  safety,  through  the  ordeal  of 
liberal  and  candid   criticism. 

In  the  two  following  years,  I  published  three  or 
four  pamphlets,  but  these  being  on  local  and  con- 
troversial subjects,  disappeared  with  the  occasions 
which  gave  them  birth.  In  1802,  I  published 
'*  An  Essay  on  the  Immateriality  and  Immortality 
of  the  Human  Soul,"  the  occasions  of  which  I  have 
briefly  hinted  in  the  following  preface.  The  ap- 
probation with  which  it  has  been  countenanced  has 
in  some  measure  stimulated  me  to  undertake  and 
accomplish  the  present  work.  And  probably  the 
manner  in  which  this  will  be  received,  will  not  be 
without  its  influence  on  my  future  labours. 

On  a  perusal  of  this  plain  and  unvarnished  tale, 
it  must  be  obvious  to  all,  that  I  stand  indebted  to 
Mr.  Whitaker  for  my  literary  existence,  by  his 
publicly  avowing  himself  my  friend,  at  a  moment 
when  recommendation,  or  a  want  of  it,  must  have 
finally  determined  my  fate.  I  was  then  in  a  critical 
situation,  insomuch  that   a  single  dash  of  his  pen 


xiv  ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER. 

might  have  doomed  me  to  perpetual  silence  and  ob. 
scurity,  and  made  me  feel  an  aversion  from  those 
studies  in  which  before  I  had  so  ardently  deli<2,hced. 
.  Such  are  the  incidents  on  which  the  destinies  of 
life  depend  !  Fortunately  my  probationary  pam- 
phlet fell  into  the  hands  of  a  gentleman,  whose  ex- 
alted rank  in  the  literary  world,  raised  him  above 
popular  prejudices,  and  enabled  him  to  silence  the 
language  of  contempt,  where  it  could  not  otherwise 
influence  public  opinion.  He  is  now  placed  be- 
yond the  reach  of  censure  and  applause,  and  I  re- 
joice  in  having  an  opportunity  of  expressing  my 
gratitude,  by  offering  this  tribute  to  his  memory 
without  fearing  to  incur  the  imputation  of  flatter}-. 

Next  to  Mr.  Whitaker,  I  feel  myself  much  in. 
debted  to  several  gentleman,  who  have  rendered 
me  some  assistance  by  giving  me  free  access  to 
their  libraries.  Those  to  whom  I  allude,  have 
treated  me  with  a  degree  of  respect  to  which  the 
merits  of  my  works  can  bear  only  an  inadequate 
proportion,  i  acknowledge  the  obligations  which 
their  kindness  have  laid  me  under,  and  should  feel 
much  pleasure  in  mentioning  their  names,  but  I 
do  not  know  that  it  would  be  agreeable,  and  without 
being  assured  of  this,  it  is  a  liberty  which  1  dare  not 
take.  To  many  of  those  from  whom  I  have  receiv- 
ed tokens  of  approbation  I  am  personally  unknown, 


ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER.       xv 

their  acts  of  kindness  arc  therefore  enhanced  by  the 
manner  in  which  they  have  been  communicated. 
I  do  not  know  that  they  estimate  their  favours  so 
highly,  but  I  should  reproach  myself  with  ingra- 
titude, were  I  to  omit  this  tribute  of  acknowledg- 
ment. 

It  has  been  a  hackneyed  topic  with  authors  to  cen- 
sure the  ingratitude  of  the  age  in  which  they  live. 
I  do  not  pretend  to  estimate  either  the  propriety  or 
the  impropriety  of  the  charge  as  it  respects  others, 
but  experience  has  taught  me  a  different  lesson, 
I  have  found  more  reason  to  be  grateful  for  sup- 
port than  to  complain  of  the  want  of  it  ;  and  I 
shall  be  extremely  glad  to  find  that  I  have  given  to 
my  numerous  Subscribers  no  occasion  to  wish  that 
they  had  withholden  what  they  have  now  bestowed. 

To  those  Ladies  and  Gentleman,  whqge  names 
honour  and  recommend  my  work,  I  hold  myself 
under  peculiar  obligations,  for  enabling  me  to  send 
this  volume  into  the  world.  It  gives  me  sensible 
pleasure  to  behold  in  the  list  of  my  subscribers  the 
names  of  a  considerable  number  of  persons  who  pa- 
tronized my  former  production.  I  hope  this  will 
afford  them  equal,  if  not  superior  satisfaction. 

For  the  patronage  which  they  have  afforded  me, 
I  hope  they  will  have  the  goodness  to  accept  my 


xvi  ADDRESS  TO  THE  READER. 

most  sincere  thanks.  It  is  not  in  my  power  td 
make  them  any  other  requital,  than  that  which  the 
perusal  of  the  book  will  afford.  May  God  accom- 
pany it  with  his  blessing,  and  grant  that  all  who 
read  it  may  have  their  parts  in  the  Resurrection  of 
the  just ! 

SAMUEL  DREW, 

St.  Austell,  Marchj  20,  1809. 


CONTENTS, 


CHAPTER  I. 

On  the  State  of  Man  before  the  Introduction  of  Mo' 

tal  E'oiL 


Page 


Sect.  I. — General  View  of  the  Subject         -         -       .  1 

Sect.  II. — On  the  Immutability  of  God         -         -  5 

Sect.  III. — That  the  Human  Body  must  have  been 
originally  Immortal.^  proved  from  the  primeval 
State  of  Man^  and  the  Immutability  of  God  consi- 
dered together         -  -         --  -  -         11 

Sect.  IV.— -On  the  primitive  and  elementary  State 
of  Matter^  and  the  nature  of  simple  and  compound- 
ed Bodies         --         -         --         -  -         18 

Sect.  V. — Arguments  tending  to  prove^  That  the 
Immortality  of  the  Body  of  Adam^  -was  secured 
by  the  Eficacy  of  the  Tree  of  Life,  notwithstand- 
ing the  natural  Tendency  of  the  Parts  to  Disso- 
lution        --.__-.         -2^ 

CHAPTER  II. 

On  the  Introduction  of  Moral  Evil,  its  Influences  on 
the  Human  Body,  and  the  removal  of  the  Tree  of. 
Life         ------  _  -         43 

CHAPTER  III. 

On  the  Annihilation  of  Moral  Evil,  considered  sepa- 
rately, and  in  connexion  with  its  Causes,  Effects, 
and  Consequences,  The  Result  highly  favourable 
to  the  Resurrection  of  the  Human  Body  from  the 
Grave, 


XXX  CONTENTS. 


Page 


Sect.  I'—^If  Moral  Evil  shall  be  annihilated^  the  Re- 
surrection of  the  Human  Body  must  be  presumed 
to  be  a  necessary  Effect        -----         55 

Sect.  II. — Arguments  tending  to  prove^  That  the  An- 
nihilation of  Moral  Evil,  can  only  be  effected  by  a 
vicarious  Sacrifice       ------         85 

Sect.  Ill — On  the  Effects  xvhich  -will  result  from  the 
Destruction  of  Death,  when  considered  wider  the 
Idea  of  a  Person  -  -  -  -  -         97 

Sect.  IV. — 071  the  Effects  which  way  be  expected  to 
result  from  the  Annihilation  of  Death,  when  con- 
sidered as  having  only  a  relative  Existence.  Pro- 
bation confined  to  the  present  State        -        -        -       108 

Sect.  V. — On  the  Difference  between  the  natural  Ef- 
fects a7id  moral  Consequences  of  moral  Evil ;  with 
arguments  tending  to  prove,  that  the  former  must 
cease,  and  the  latter  continue  for  ever  -  -125 

CHAPTER  IV. 

On  Idetitity  in  GtneraU 

Sect.  I. — On  the  Evidences  of  Identity        -        -       -       133 

Sect.  Vi.'-^On  our  distinct  Ideas  of  Identity,  found- 
ed upon  the  Diversity  of  its  Nature  -  -       141 

Sect.  m. — General  Observations   on  the  Identity  of 

the  Human  Body         -         -         -         -         -         -148 

Sect.  IV. — The  Identity  of  the  Human  Body  more 

immediately  considered. 156 

CHAPTER   V. 

On  hhc  Analogy  between  Vegetation,  and  the  Pesttr- 
rection  of  the  Human  Body. 

Beet.  I. —  That  the  Doctrine  of  the  PesurrectioJi 
has  fezuer  DiffciJties  than  the  Doctrine  qf  Vege- 
tation     -       --       -       -       -       --in 

Sect.  II. —  Tiiat  all  Objections,  usually  advanced 
against  the  doctrine  of  tlic  Resurrection  maij  be 
tuhanccd  against  the  Doctrine  of  Vegetation         -       179 


CONTENTS.  XXXl. 

Page 
Sect.  III.— TAa^  tht  Analogy   betxueen    Vegetation 
and  the  Resurrection  of  the  Body  is  not  destroyed 
by  the  Inequalities  of  Time,  during  which  the  Bo- 
dies of  (Afferent  Men  repose  in  the  Gra-oe       -       -       189 

Sect.  IV. — Arguments  to  pro^e.  That  the  Resur- 
rection of  the  Body  can  no  more  take  place  ih.me- 
'diately,  than  Seed-time  and  Harvest  can  be  blended 
together 203 

Sect.  V. — In  which  it  is  proved,  That  St.  Paul, 
when  illustrating  the  Doctrine  of  the  Resurrection 
by  the  Process  of  Vegetation,  speaks  the  language 
of  Philosophy  and  Reason  -  -         -         ,^       200 

CHAPTER  VI. 

Arguments  tending  to  prove.  That  the  Identity  of 
the  Human  Body  must  consist  in  some  Germ,  or 
Staynen,  which  re?7iaifis  Immoveable. 

Sect,  I. — In  which  it  is  argued.  That  the  Identity  of 
our  future  Bodies  cannot  consist  in  all  the  numeri- 
cal Particles,  nor  in  the  Majority  of  them,  which 
occasionally  adhered  to  the  Vital  Mass,  in  any  giv- 
en Portion  of  the  present  Life         -         _       -       -       218 

Sect.  n. — Arguments  tending  to  prove.  That  the 
Sameness  of  our  future  Bodies  must  be  constituted 
by  some  Germ,  or  Stamen  ;  and  that  we  now  poS" 
sess  all  the  Evidence  of  a  Resurrection,  which  we 
can  rationally  expect  in  the  present  State        -      -       2Z7 

Sect.  III. — The  Objections  against  the  Idea  of  a  Germ 
as  coiistituting  the  Identity  of  the  nody  hereafter, 
no  Argument  against  its  certainty.  Several  Objec- 
tions considered.  Several  Changes  of  our  Bodies 
highly  probable         -  -  .  -  -  -    .  245 

Sect.  rV. — Probable  Arguments,  That  the  Changes 
through  xuhich  our  Bodies  have  already  passed, 
are  a  Groundxvork  of  our  future  Expectations,  and 
ensure  upon' Principles  of  Analogy,  the  Resurrec- 
tion of  the  Human  Body        -         -        -       »      -       265 


XXXll  CONTENTS. 


Page 


Sect.  V. — Arguments  to  provcy  That  Gravitation 
77iust  be  inapplicable  to  our  future  Bodies  in  ano- 
ther Worldy  and  that  the  Loss  of  Gravitation  xvill 
make  a  considerable  Distinction  between  these  Bo- 
dies xvhich  xve  noxv  have^  and  those  zvhich  shall  be 
hereafter  *         -  .  -         .         -         -       283 

Sect.  VI. — Arguments  to  prove^  That  though  our  fu- 
ture Bodies  must  be  foryned  of  parts ^  the  Peculia- 
rity of  their  situation  xvill  place  them  beyond  the 
reach  of  Dissolutio7i,  Reflections  on  our  present 
and  future  Condition         -----       301 

Sect.  VII. — ; — On  the  Origin  of  bodily  Identity.  Ar- 
guments to  prove^  That  the  Identity  of  the  Body  can 
have  no  Existence  prior  to  the  formal  Existence 
of  the  Body.  That  Abortions  are  perfectly  recon- 
cileable  xvith  the  Theory  xvhich  has  been  advaJiced       315 

Sect.  VIII. — Summartj  of  that  direct  Evidence  by 
xvhich  xve  are  assured^  that  the  Identity  of  the 
JIuman  Body^  must  consist  in  some  radical  Prin- 
ciple, or  Germ,  zvhich  can  neither  expire  ?ier 
change         -- 334 

CHAPTER   VII. 

l^hat  the  Resurrection  of  the  Human  Body^  is  Pos- 
sible., Probable,  and  certain,  proved  both  from  Phi- 
losophy and  Scripture. 

Sect.  I. — That  the  resurrectiofi  of  the  Human  Bo- 
dy   is    Possible,  proved  from   the  Nature    of  in- 
finite Poxvcr,   and  the   unobstrucfmg   Nature  of 
Matter  -  *  -  -  -  -  -       347 

Sect.  II. — That  the  Resurrection  of  the  Human  Bo- 
dy is  highly  Probable,  from  a  Train  of  presump- 
tive and  analogical  Evidence  -         -         -         -       q^ss 

Sect.  III. — That  the  Resurrection  of  the  Human 
Body  is  Certain,  proved  from  the  Principles  of  Phi- 
losophy, the  Justice  of  God,  and  compounded  Na- 
ture of  Man  -  -  -  -  -       574> 

Sect.  TV .—-ObservatioJis  on  several  Passages  of  the 
Fifteenth  Chapter  of  the  First  Book  of  Corijithi- 
ans,  in  xvhich  Philosophy  and  Authority,  are  com- 
bined and  considered  together  -  .  ►       404 


jjjUitw«jii»r-«ij«w>'gi"»<;BP«^l^«^^^<»^wi»pw»wii»i»i  «t: 


AN 

ESSAY 

ON    THE 

IDENTITY  AND  GENERAL  RESURRECTION 

OF    THE  ^ 

HUMAN  BODY. 


CHAPTER  I. 

ON    THE    STATE     OF     MAN     BEFORE     THE    INTRO- 
DUCTION   OF    MORAL    EVIL. 

SECTION  1. 

General  Fiew  of  the  Subject, 

XJlS  no  being  can  be  infinite  but  God,  no  doubt 
can  be  entertained  that  all  finite  intelligences  had  a 
beginning  ;  and  those  which  had  a  beginning,  must 
owe  their  origin  to  another.  This  remark  is  ap- 
propriate to  man,  and  is  not  confined  to  any  de- 
tached light  in  which  we  may  view  him,  but  is 
equally  applicable  both  to  his  body  and  his  soul. 

But  though  both  matter  and  spirit  must 
have  had  a  beginning,  it  will  not  thence  follow 
that  they  must  have  had  an  end.      They  may 


2  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  I. 

chani^c  thtir  modes  of  being,  and  their  relations  to 
each  other,  in  all  the  variety  of  forms  which  is  with- 
in the  reach  of  possibility,  and  yet  remain  at  the 
same  distance  from  the  real  absence  of  being  as 
tliey  were  when  God  first  called  them  into  exis- 
tence. 

That  a  spirit,  though  created,  cannot  die,  is  plainly 
demonstrated  to  us  by  the  deathless  state  of  angelic 
natures,  and  by  the  immortality  of  the  human  soul. 
And  we  phinlv  discover  in  these  two  instances,  that 
beginning  of  existence  does  not  include  an  end. 
We  also  discover  in  all  the  modes  which  any  given 
portion  of  matter  is  capable  of  assuming,  that  it  is 
always  at  an  infinite  distaRce  from  a  perfect  non- 
entity. Something  and  nothing  are  extremes  which 
never  can  meet  together ;  and  the  distance  which 
lies  between  them,  no  approaches  can  possibly  fill 
Tip  :  and  therefore  the  real  absence  of  being  which 
is  a  nonentity,  must  always  be  at  an  equal  distance 
from  all  given  substances  to  which  the^se  possible 
modes  of  existence  are  ascribed. 

rhc  combinations  wl)ich  the  particles  of  matter 
form  with  one  another,  are  indeed,  continually  dis- 
solving ;  new  unions  arc  constantly  taking  place  in 
regular  succession  to  each  otlier :  and  the  modifi- 
cations of  mattv\;r,  seem  to  undergo  perpetual 
cliangcs.  But  wc  can  trace  wo  more  analogy  be- 
tween the  real  absence  of  matter  and  a  world,  be- 
cause a  world  and  an  atom  must  be  at  an  equal 
distance  from  the  real  absence  of  ajl  that  is  mate- 
rial. If  therefore,  neither  the  infinite  divisibility  of 
matter,  nor  the  various  modes  whiqji  it  undergoes 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  C 

and  is  capable  of  undergoing,  can  reach  the  inter- 
nal constitution  of  matter,  or  otherwise  affect  it, 
than  by  altering  its  configuration,  while  its  essence 
remains  untouched,  and  while  its  substance  is  en- 
tire, we  may  safely  infer,  unless  God  should 
alter  the  laws  of  nature,  that  matter  itself  will  be 
as  perpetual  as  spirit ;  and  that  it  must  continue 
for  ever,  und;r  such  forms  and  in  such  modes,  as 
God  in  his  infinite  wisdom  shall  think  proper. 

That  man  is  formed  of  matter  and  spirit,  will 
admit  of  very  little  doubt.  While  in  union  with 
each  other,  these  substances  partake  of  one  com- 
mon life,  and  are  cemented  together  by  tits  v/hich 
are  at  once  permanent  and  unknown. 

That  the  spiritual  part  of  man  shall  never  die, 
is  to  be  inferred  from  the  properties  of  the  human 
soul.*  The  soul  therefore,  from  its  superior  natore, 
must  be  capable  of  subsisting  without  the  aid  of 
the  body,  in  *a  distinct  and  separate  state.  And 
that  the  body,  when  separated  from  its  union  with 
the  soul,  must  cease  to  act,  we  are  convinced  of 
by  the  most  unquestionable  proof.  In  that  state  of 
separation,  all  compact  seems  to  be  dissolved  ;  die 
spirit  retires  into  anoiher  region,  to  mix  with  beinsjs 
whose  natures  are  analogous  to  its  own  ;  while  the 
body  is  consigned  over,  and  apparently  for  ever,  to 
durkne-is  and  corruption. 
The  compact  being  thus  dissolved,   all  union  en- 


*  See  iy\y  Essay  on  the  Immatenality  and  Imn-jortality  cf  the 
Human  Soul.  8vo.  1803,  3ncl  edit. 


4  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  I. 

tirely  broken  off  between  the  spiritual  and  material 
parts  uf  man,  and  even  the  constituent  parts  of  the 
body  ceasiuiJ^  to  adhere  to  each  other,  and  the 
particles  of  which  it  was  composed  incorporating 
with  othex  particles  of  matter,  it  becomes  a  question 
of  the  most  serious  importance,  whether  this  body 
shall  rise  again  or  not  ? 

To  inquire  into  this  fundamental  article  of  our 
belief; — to  know  what  evidence  we  have  in  favour 
of  this  doctrine  ; — what  the  nature  of  that  evidence 
ought  to  be,  which  we  might  rationally  expect  on 
such  a  subject ; — how  far  difficulties  should  be  per- 
mitted to  operate  against  conviction,  and  to  lay  an 
embargo  on  belief; — to  know  whether  Revelation  is 
our  exclusive  guide,  or  whether  God  has  furnished 
us  with  strong  intimations  of  a  future  resurrection 
from  other  sources  : — to  know  what  these  sources 
are,  whence  we  derive  our  evidence,  and  how  far 
the  proofs  may  be  deemed  conclusive  which  may 
be  adduced  in  favour  of  this  important  point, — are 
questions  which  I  propose  to  discuss  in  the  follow- 
ing sheets,  and  which  will  occasionally  become  the 
subjects  of  investigation. 

As  weadmit  that  man  must  have  had  a  beginning, 
and  as  his  material  part  is  the  subject  of  our  present 
inquiry,  it  is  necessary  that  we  first  turn  our 
thoughts  to  his  original  state.  It  is  in  that  state 
alone  that  we  can  view  him  detached  from  these 
extraneous  circumstances  which  now  involve  the 
evidences  which  I  am  about  to  examine  ;  and  whicli 
lie  scattered  over  that  pathless  desert  w  liich  I  shall 
attempt  to  explore.     In  order  that  the  mind  may  be 


Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  5 

detached  from  its  local  views  and  partial  percep- 
tions of  man,  we  must  take  a  survey  of  creation, 
since  we  can  only  infer  his  primary  state,  and  the 
real  nature  of  his  original  condition,  from  the  re- 
lation in  which  he  then  stood  to  his  Maker.  And 
therefore  to  those  attributes  of  God,  which  we  con- 
spicuously discern  in  all  his  conduct  and  actions 
towards  his  creatures,  and  particularly  in  that 
which  applies  to  man,  we  most  necessarily  appeak 


SECTION  II. 

On  the  Immutability  ofGod» 

That  the  human  body  cannot  have  been  eternal,  is 
a  truth  which  will  admit  of  no  doubt,  and  can  re- 
quire no  proof ;  it  must  therefore  owe  its  origin  to  a 
superior  cause,  and  that  cause  must  be  God. 

That  God  from  his  nature  and  attributes,  must 
profess  all  possible  perfection,  it  will  be  needless  to 
prove,  because  it  is  a  truth  which  it  is  useless  to 
deny.  And  if  all  possible  i:>erfections  are  possessed 
by  him,  immutability  must  be  included  among  the 
essential  attributes  of  his  nature. 

Without  entering  into  any  formal  proof  of  this 
truth  I  shall  assume  it  as  an  admitted  point,  be- 
cause those  by  whom  it  is  denied,  are  under  the 
necessity  of  undeifying  his  nature,  and  ultimately 
denying  his  existence.     The  existence  of  God  is  a 


6  IDENTITY  AND  REBUUUliCTION   [Chap.  I. 

ground-work  which  I  presume  no  intelligent  mind 
will  hesitate  to  grant  me,  and  irom  those  who  re- 
fuse me  this  point,  I  shall  take  the  liberty  to  appeal. 

If  then,  the  existence  of  the  divine  nature  be 
admitted,  the  existence  of  all  possible  perfections 
are  inseparable  from  the  divine  essence  ;  and,  in 
conjunction  with  each  other,  thc}'  are  truths  which 
must  stand  or  fall  together.  To  admit  the  divine 
nature,  is  to  admit  the  divine  attributes;  and  to  admit 
the  divine  attributes  is  to  admit  the  divine  perfec- 
tions ;  and  the  instant  we  attempt  to  separate  them, 
we  involve  ourselves  in  palpable  contradictions. 

Taking  therefore  the  infinite  perfections  of  God 
as  an  admitted  point,  I  contend,  that  these  perfec- 
tions must  include  immutability  as  an  essential 
property  of  his  nature.  For  could  we  imagine 
that  God  possesses  all  possible  perfections,  and  yet 
suppose  immutability  not  to  be  included  in  the  list 
of  these  perfections,  we  must  suppose  him  capable 
of  changes  which  are  incompatible  with  those  attri- 
butes and  perfections  which  we  ascribe  to  him.  A 
being  who  sees  reason  to  counteract  to-day,  wliat 
was  accomplished  yesterday,  must  be  wiser  now 
than  he  was  then.  And  the  action  of  to- day,  plain, 
ly  tells  us  that  the  action  of  yesterday  must  have 
been  erroneous,  though  it  then. appeared  right  and 
just.  But  if  the  knoulcdge  of  the  eternal  God,  be 
greater  nov/  than  it  was  then,  it  is  a  certain  fact 
that  his  knowcldge  was  not  perfect  yesterday,  aiid 
it  is  highly  probable  tiiat  it  is  yet  in  a  state  of* 
im.perfection.     A  knowledge  which  can  admit  of  in- 


Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  f 

crease  in  any  stage  of  progression,  cannot  in  those 
stages  be  perfect  ;  and  consequently  cannot  be  in- 
finite ;  and  that  which  is  not  infinite  can  neither 
apply  to  God,  nor  belong  to  his  nature.  But  as 
God  must  be  infinite  in  all  his  perfections,  and  as 
perfect  knowledge  must  be  included  in  those  perfec- 
tions, no  increase  or  diminution  of  his  knowledge 
can  possibly  be  admitted.  And  therefore,  perfectly 
acquainted  as  he  must  be  with  past,  present,' and 
future,  with  all  contingencies,  and  all  possible 
circumstances,  no  changes  can  take  place  in 
him,  his  immutability  therefore  necessarily  arises 
from  the  nature  of  his  other  perfections,  and  the 
nature  of  his  existence. 

That  apparent  changes,  are  however  perfectly 
oonsistent  with  absolute  immutability,  must  be  ad- 
mitted, because  apparent  changes  are  perfectly  con- 
sistent with  God.  Immutability  may  seem  to 
change  in  its  actions  towards  changeable  creatures, 
while  in  itself  it  remains  perfect,  unaltered  and 
entire. 

We  are  furnished  with  evidences  on  this  poipt 
from  our  constant  observations  of  the  heavenly 
bodies  ;  since  we  behold  in  them  an  apparent  and 
a  relative  change  through  every  succeeding  day. 
But  the  stations  which  the  fixed  stars  hold  in  the 
regions  of  space,  are  permanent  and  immutable, 
notwithstanding  the  perpetual  revolutions  which  they 
seem  to  undergo.  And  were  the  orb  which  we  in- 
habit as  fixed  as  they,  all  would  appear  as  they 
really  are  ;  and  the  varions  revolutions  v/hich  de^- 


f  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION.  [Chap,  I. 

cribe  our  days,  our  moiiihs,  and  years,    we  should 
then  inquire  after  in  vain. 

The  changes  which  we  perceive,  reside  net  in 
them  but  in  us.  The  stars  are  fixed,  while  the 
earth  is  perpetually  revolving ;  and  it  is  the  in- 
accuracy of  popular  observations  which  induces 
us  to  transfer  the  changes  we  perceive  from  ourr 

stilyes  to  them,  and  to  charge  upon  the  fixed  stars, 
that  change  of  place  which  belongs  to  the  globe 
which  we  inhabit,  and  which  in  them  has  no  exist- 
ence. In  like  manner,  it  is  perhaps  not  impious 
to  transfer  the  analogy,  to  the  immutability  of  God, 
and  the  mutability  of  ourselves,  we  can  then  with 
safety  "  assert  eternal  providence,  and  justify  the 
ways  of  God  to  man." 

That  'there  is  in  God  an  immutable  hatred  to 
vice  must  be  unquestionable,  vice  being  the  reverse 
of  his  nature;  and  that  there  must  be  in  him  an 
immutable  attachment  to  holiness,  it  being  conge- 
nial to  his  essence,  must  be  admitted  on  the  same 
ground.  And  as  God  is  thus  immutable  in  him- 
self, so  long  as  his  rational  creatures  hold  their  res- 
pective stations,  in  which  his  goodness  had  previous- 
ly placed  them,  so  long  are  his  perfections  bound 
to  protect  them  from  every  evil  ;  and  consequently 
to  preserve  them  from  dissolution  and  decay.  But 
when  his  creatures  change  their  stations  through 
the  mutability  of  their  natures,  they  change  their 
relation  to  God  ;  and  a  change  in  their  condition 
must  be  the  neccbsary  result  of  their  departure 
from  him. 


Sect.  11.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  S> 

But  this  change  arises  not  from  any  mutability  in 
God,  but  from  the  immutability  of  his  nature;  for, 
as  the  perfections  of  God  were  bound  to  protect  and 
preserve  those  who  were  dependent  upon  him,  so, 
by  the  same  immutability  of  his  nature,  God  was 
bound  to  withdraw  his  protection  from  them,  when 
they  departed  from  that  station  in  which  his  good- 
ness had  placed  them,  and  engaged  to  protect  them. 
As  God  manifests  his  love  to  all  who  are  found  in 
the  way  of  holiness,  and  manifests  his  hatred  to  all 
who  are  found  in  the  way  of  vice,  it  is  evident  that  a 
continuance  in  the  way  of  holiness  is  necessary  to  the 
continuance  of  his  favour:  and  we  can  no  more  con- 
ceive that  these  cases  can  be  reversed  while  the  nature 
of  God  remains  immutable,  than  we  can  conceive  the 
same  thing  to  be  and  not  to  be  in  the  same  instant. 

If  God  directs  his  love  to  A.  and  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  A.  and  his  hatred  to  B.  and  to  the  inhabi- 
tants of  B.  we  have  the  case  precisely  laid  down 
before  us  ;  and  we  see  with  exactness  the  true  situ- 
ations of  the  respective  inhabitants  both  of  A.  and 
B.  But  if  the  inhabitants  of  A.  should  retire  from 
their  station,  and  depart  to  B.  it  is  evident  that  they 
would  go  from  love  to  hatred,  and  yet  be  under  the 
same  God,  who  was,  and  is,  and  ever  shall  be, 
unchangeable  in  all  his  ways.  And  hence  we  may 
clearly  discover,  that  apparent  changeableness,  and 
real  immutability,  are  perfectly  compatible  with  one 
another  as  they  refer  to  God.  But  as  they  aifect 
man,  the  conduct  of  God  is  really  changed  towards 
him,  notwithstanding  God  is  in  himself  eternal  and 
unchangeable,  in  all  his  ways. 

D 


10  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  I. 

-  Nor  are  these  reasonings  confined  exclusively  to  a 
moral  view  of  man.  They  will  apply  with  equal 
force -to  all  his  bodily  as  well  as  mental  powers. 
For  as  the  human  body  formed  a  conspicuous  part 
of  creation,  and  as  the  life  of  man  was  guaranteed  to 
him,  on  condition  of  his  abstinence  from  moral  evil, 
the  perpetuity  of  the  human  body  must  have  been  in- 
eluded  under  this  guarantee,  and  its  dissolution  on 
this  ground  must  have  been  for  ever  unknown.  The 
promise  of  life  was  suspended  upon  hum.an  obedi- 
ence ;  and  it  extended  no  further.  For  as  perpetuity 
cf  life  was  the  reward  of  obedience,  so  death  was  in 
part  the  punishment  of  disobedience  ;  and  as  man 
by  his  departure  from  obedience,  forfeited  his  claim 
to  perpetuity  of  life,  so  by  his  disobedience  he  sub- 
jected himself  to  that  dissolution  of  body,  which  was 
included  in  the  punishment  annexed  to  immoral 
action. 

Thus  may  we  see  In  one  view,  the  origin  of  the 
dissolution  of  our  bodies,  while  we  contemplate  the 
immutability  of  God.  We  see  our  dissolution  ori- 
ginating in  ourselves,  while  the  immutability  of  God 
stands  detacl:ed  from  every  charge  ;  we  see  l:is  im- 
mutability engaged  to  prtect  rectitude,  but  nothing 
more ;  'we  see  man  departing  from  it,  and  thereby 
sinking  into  that  dissolution,  which,  abstractedly 
from  this  circumstance,  could  never  have  existed. 
If  God,  under  the  existence  of  present  circum- 
stances, were  to  perpetuate  our  bodies,  he  must  de- 
part fi'om  those  rules  of  invariable  rectitude,  which 
ttre  ah.vayt>  inseparable  from  his  ways;  and  his  im- 
mutability, under  the  various  changes  of  man,  would 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  1 1 

appear  in  a  very  questionable  light.  He  must  in 
this  case  change  with  his  changeable  creatures,  and 
immutability  will  then  no  more  attach  to  him  than 
it  does  now  to  us.  The  conduct  of  God  must  in 
this  case  appear  dependent  upon  the  actions  of  man  ; 
controlled  by  caprice,  and  subjected  to  those  di- 
rections which  the  wayward  sallies  of  our  passions 
would  impose. 

But  the  conduct  of  God  is  fixed  upon  principles 
of  a  more  permanent  nature.  The  irregularities 
which  are  visible  both  in  the  moral  and  the  natural 
world,  are  attributable  to  other  causes  ;  while  the 
immutability  of  God  stands  unimpeached.  It  is 
because  we  have  retired  from  that  station  in  which 
his  goodness  had  placed  us,  and  in  which  his  immu- 
tability had  engaged  to  protect  us,  that  our  bodies 
die.  And  the  evils  of  which  we  complain,  do  not 
overtake  us  because  God  is  changeable,  but  because 
God  is  immutable  in  all  his  ways,  and  because  we 
are  changeable. 


SECTION  III. 

That  the  Human  Body  must  have  been  originally 
Immortal,  proved  from  the  prinieval  State  of 
Man,  and  the  Immutability  of  God  considered 
together. 

F20M  those  general  views,  which,  in  the  preced- 
ing section,  we  have  taken  of  the  immutability  of 
God,  and  of  those  changes  with  v/hich  it  is  compat- 


18  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [C'nap.  I. 

able,  kt  us  now  turn  our  attention  to  the  sanne  at- 
tribute, and  consider  it  in  connection  with  man  in 
his  primeval  state  ;  and  the  evidence  in  favour  of 
primative  immortality,  will  perhaps  appear  in  a  con- 
spicuous light.  And,  therefore,  without  inquiring 
into  the  motives  or  caus€  whix;h  induced  God  to  cre- 
ate the  world,  I  shall  fix  on  the  fact  itself,  and  only 
presume  that  creation  did  take  place..  For  whatever 
the  cause  or  motives  were,  certain  it  is,  that  such 
cause  and  motives  did  exist,  and  hence  Almighty 
Power  and  goodness  called  the  universe  into  being. 
That  a  design  to  create  man  did  exist  in  God  at 
the  time  of  creation,  is  demonstrated  by  fact ;  and 
therefore  a  design  to  destroy  the  human  body  could 
not  thon  have  had  a  being.  For  if  we  suppose  that 
a  design  to  destroy  the  human  body,  did  exist  in 
God  at  the  moment  in  which  he  created  it,  we  must 
suppose  him  to  have  been  actuated  by  two  opposite 
designs,  the  one  to  create,  and  the  other  to  destroy 
the  thing  created.  But  in  thus  supposing,  we  place 
the  designs  of  God,  not  only  in  a  state  of  hostility 
to  each  other,  but  in  a  state  of  hostility  to  his  attri- 
butcs  ;  and  we  make  a  principle  of  immutability 
to  produce  designs,  which,  in  the  same  moment, 
are  destructive  to  each  other.  But  since  these 
suppositions  are  contrary  to  the  divine  perfec- 
tions, and  perfectly  incompatible  with  the  immuta- 
bility of  his  nature,  we  nriust  conclude,  that  those 
suppositions  which  are  irreconcileable  with  the  na- 
ture of  God,  are  at  once  inapplicable  to  him,  and 
false  in  fact.  Hence  then  the  conclusion  appears 
to  be  inevitable,  that  no  de&ign  to  destroy  the  hu- 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMy\N  BODY.  JS 

man  body,  could,  at  the  moment  of  creation,  have 
existed  in  God  ;  and  while  we  retain  our  idea  of  his 
immutability,  we  are  precluded  from  admitting  the 
possibility  of  any  such  subsequent  design  from 
taking  place.  For  since,  under  our  present  consid- 
eration, man  is  presumed  to  sustain  the  same  rela- 
tive situation  to  God,  which  he  sustained  in  the 
moment  of  his  creation,  no  cause  of  a  design  to  de- 
stroy him  could  originate  with  him.  And  as  God 
must  be  immutable  in  his  nature,  as  has  been  prov- 
ed in  the  preceding  section,  we  are  forbidden  to  sup- 
pose that  any  such  design  could  possibly  originate 
with  him.  And  hence  it  follows,  that  as  no  design 
to  destroy  the  human  body,  could,  under  actual  and 
existing  facts,  have  originated  either  with  man  or 
God,  so  no  such  design  could  possibly  have  exist- 
ed ;  and,  therefore  the  human  body  must  have  been 
exempt  from  dissolution  and  decay. 

Indeed,  while  we  admit  God  to  be  the  creator  of 
man,  we  must  view  him  as  an  infinite  being,  and 
consequently  as  one  that  is  immutable ;  and  while 
we  consider  him  thus  as  an  immutable  being,  it 
will  be  impossible  for  us  to  admit  the  possibility, 
either  of  dissolution  or  death.  For  a  man,  standing 
precisely  in  the  same  situation  in  which  he  stood, 
when  God  first  called  him  into  existence,  must  have 
sustained  the  same  relation  to  his  maker  ;  to  suppose 
that  he  can  be  both  created  and  destroyed,  and  vet 
uniformly  in  both  cases  sustain  the  same  relation  to 
the  cause  of  both  ;  while  u'e  admit,  at  the  same  time, 
the  cause  of  both  to  be  absolutely  immutable,   will 


14  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap  I. 

amount  to  something  more  than  a  simple  contradic- 
tion. 

A  being  which  continues  the  same  after  it  is  cre- 
ated that  it  was  when  called  into  existence,  can  in- 
clude no  more  cause  of  its  dissolution,  the  moment 
after,  than  it  did  in  the  moment  of  its  creation.    The 
same  reasonings  which  will  hold  good  to  day,  will, 
upon  the  same  principle,  hold  equally  good  to-mor- 
row ;  they  will  be  equally  available  the  day  follow- 
ing, and  we  may  extend  our  observations   through 
the  whole  progress  of  duration.     If,  therefore,  the 
human  body  can  possibly  be  destroyed,  during  any 
period  of  existence  subsequently  to  creation,  with- 
out  containing    within   itself    any   cause    of  that 
destruction,   it  is  evident  that  this  cause  must  be 
lodsred  in  some  other  source.     But  since  no  other 
source    can  possibly   be   found    but   God,    if  the 
destruction  of  the  human   body  were  possible,  we 
inust,  under  these  considerations,  either  attribute  to 
bim  the  destruction  of  the  human  body  upon  the 
game  identical  principle  which  gave  birth  to  crea- 
tion, or  we  must  suppose  the  Almighty  to  be  actu- 
ated by  contradictory  designs      But  as  we  can  no 
more  conceive  it  possible  that  the  Almighty  can  be 
actuated  by  contradictory  designs,   than   we   can 
conceive   that  destruction  and  creation   can  arise 
from  the   same  principle,  (which   is  making  two 
opposite  effects   to   result   from  the  same  cause,) 
the  destruction  of  the  human  body,  under  present 
circumstances,  cannot  possibly  be  imputed  to  God. 
And  since  the  supposition,  in  cither  case,  involves 
a  plain  and  positive   contradiction,  the  result  is  in- 


Sect.  III.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  15 

cvitable,  namely,  thai  the  human  body  must  ncces» 
sarily  have  been  immortal. 

The  same  moral  causes  which  exist  when  the  body 
is  d;-stroyed,  must  have  been  in  existence  when  it 
was  created  ;  because  God  is  necessarily  immutable, 
and  the  creature  is  presumed  to  have  undergone  no 
change.  If,  therefore,  under  these  given  circum- 
stances, the  body  could  have  been  dissolved,  we 
must  presume,  either  that  creation  and  dissolution 
are  the  same  thing,  or  that  two  opposite  effects  have 
resulted  from  the  same  cause.  To  suppose  the 
former  we  are  forbidden  by  fact,  and  to  suppose 
the  latter  is  a  contradiction.  The  final  result  must 
therefore  be,  that  the  human  body  must  have  been 
immortal.  And  hence  also,  since  this  theory  and 
present  fact  are  at  variance  with  each  other,  the 
dissolution  which  the  human  body  undergoes,  must 
be  attributed  to  some  otiier  cause;  a  cause  distinct 
from  any  which  has  hitherto  been  explored;  a 
cause  v/hich  could  not  have  existed  when  man  was 
first  called  into  being ;  a  cause  which  did  not  then 
reside  in  man,  and  which  could  not  at  any  period 
whatsoever  reside  in  God. 

What  the  precise  state  of  Adam's  body  was,  pre- 
viously to  his  fall,  is  a  question,  which  has  employed 
the  pens  of  many  writers,  and  has  been  productive 
of  a  multitude  of  conjectures.  And,  indeed,  in 
cases  where  we  are  left  without  decisive  evidence, 
conjecture  and  probability  must  become  our  only 
guides. 

With  some,  the  body  of  Adam  has  been  supposed 
iummous,  with  others    transparent,  and  with  others 


16  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  I. 

again  Uglily  aej'kil  and  spiritual.  And  these  con- 
jectures seem  to  have  been  adopted  purely  to  ac- 
count for  that  immortality,  which  has  been  so  uni- 
formly  attributed  to  it.  The  various  arguments 
"which  have  been  adduced  in  favour  of  these  differ- 
ent theories,  it  would  be  useless  to  detail.  Every 
opinion  will  have  its  abettors,  and  every  argument 
its  proselytes ;  error  v/ill  have  its  advocates  as  well 
as  truth. 

But  on  this  point  the  book  of  God  is  silent ;  and 
from  this  circumstance  we  feel  an  assurance,  that  it 
is  a  case  in  which  philosophy  can  afford  us  little  or 
no  assistance,  conjecture  must  be  the  only  founda- 
tion on  which  these  opinions  rest.  The  principal 
facts  which  we  learn  from  the  sacred  records  on  this 
subject,  are,  that  God  J  armed  the  material  part  of 
man  out  of  the  dust  of  the  earthy  and  then  breathed 
into  his  nostrils  the  breath  of  life^  and  man  became 
a  living  soul.  But  why  the  body  of  Adam 
should  be  supposed  hu/iiaous,  transparent^  or  aeri- 
aly  are  conjectures,  the  probability  of  which  I  have 
yet  to  learn. 

Indeed,  I  can  have  no  conception  how  a  body, 
which  is  aerial,  can  include  within  it  those  solid 
parts  which  we  denominate  bones,  from  which  class 
the  rib  was  taken,  out  of  which  woman  was  after- 
wards formed.  Neither  can  I  have  any  conception 
how  transparency  can  become  a  property  of  parti- 
cles, which  are  in  themselves  opaque,  and  disposed 
as  they  are  in  a  substance  so  multiform  and  complex 
as  the  body  of  man.  Nor  can  I  discover,  admitting 
his  l;ody  to  have  been  transparent,  what  advantages 


Sect.  III.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  IF 

would  have  accrued  from  such  a  property.    A  body- 
that  is  transparent  can   be  no  further  removed,  in 
consequence  of  that  transparency,  from  dissolution, 
than  if  it  were  opaque,  like  those   which  we  now 
possess ;  so  that  the  very  end  for  which  the  conjec- 
ture is  introduced  must   be  defeated,  because   no 
connection  can  be  traced  between  the  premises  and 
conclusion.    For  if  the  body  of  Adam  were  as  vola- 
tile even  as  light  itself,  still  the  union  of  its  compo- 
nent parts  would  stand  upon  the  same  principle  upon 
which   ours  now   rest.     And  certain  it  ig,  that  the 
volatile  particles  which  we  have  supposed,  would 
require  the  power  of  adhesion  to  preserve  the  con- 
nection between  them,  as  much  so  as  if  we  were  to 
suppose  them  to  be  more  nearly  related  to  those  of 
our  own.     Whether,  therefore,    we   suppose   the 
body  of  Adam  to  be  volatile  or  grosSy  to  be  trans- 
parent or   opaque,  to  be   luminous  or  dark,  as  the 
same  power  must  be  alike  necessary  in  each  case 
to  make  the  different  particles  adhere,    we  shall 
still  be  obliged  to  claim  the  assistance  of  some  qua- 
lity to  establish  that  adhesion  of  the  parts   which 
is  necessary  to  ensure  perpetuity.     This,  therefore, 
must  be  a  quality,  which  neither  transparency  nor 
opacity  can  possess,  and  which  can   reside    in  no 
external  appearance  whatsoever.     The  immortality 
of  Adam's  body, must,  therefore,  have  depended  upon 
other  causes  than  caft  be  derived  from  a  mere  com- 
bination of  particles,  in  what  form  soever  we  sup- 
pose them  to  be  modified. 


U  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap,  I. 

SECTION  IV. 

On  the  primitive  and  elementary  State  of  Matter^ 
and  the  Nature  oj  simple  and  compounded 
Bodies. 

It  has  frequently  been  asserted,  that  all  compound- 
ed bodies  have  within  themselves  an  internal  ten- 
dency to  dissolution  and  decay  ;  and  hence  it  has 
been  inferred,  that  the  body  of  Adam  must  have 
been  destitute  of  that  natural  immortality  which  we 
have  attributed  to  it  in  its  primeval  state.  Gf  the 
abstract  fact,  little  or  no  doubt  can  be  entertained  ; 
but  even  this  fact  can  only  be  admitted  under  cer- 
tain limitations,  for  in  the  original  state  of  matter 
things  could  not  have  been  so. 

In  the  original  chaotic  state  of  matter,  before  the 
elements  were  fixed  in  their  distinct  abodes,  every, 
particle  of  matter  must  have  been  destitute  of  any 
common  or  particular  centre  ;  and  it  is  certain, 
under  these  considerations,  whatever  might  have 
been  the  peculiar  modification  of  any  given  particles, 
that  they  could  have  contained  within  them  no  in- 
ternal tendency  to  depart  from  those  stations  which 
had  been  assigned  them  ;  or  even  to  separate  from 
one  another.  And  as  all  matter  must  in  itself  be 
stationary  and  inert,  and  as  all  external  impulse 
must  necessarily  be  removed  By  the  supposition,  it 
is  certain  that  all  bodies  composed  of  these  simple 
materials,  must  have  remained  for  ever  equally  re- 
moved from  mutation  and  decay, 


Sfect.  IV.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  19 

That  the  real  internal  essence  of  matter,  whatever 
that  essence  may  be,  must  remain  the  same  under 
every  possible  modification,  few,  if  any,  will  at- 
tempt either  to  deny  or  doubt ;  because  it  is  front 
this  unknown  essence,  that  those  essential  proper- 
ties resiilt  which  are  kno\vn ;  while,  from  these 
known  essential  properties,  we  are  enabled  to  fornl 
distinct  perceptions  of  those  different  substances, 
which  are  presented  to  our  view.  Now,  since  all 
divisions  of  any  given  substance,  must  imply  the 
previous  existence  of  that  substance  ;  and  as  those 
elements  into  which  matter  is  now  divided,  were 
originally  drawn  from  matter,  it  is  evident  that  there 
has  been  a  period  in  which  matter  must  have  exist- 
ed, abstractedly  from  those  elements  which  now 
engross  the  material  world.  And  consequently 
air,  earth,  water,  and  fire,  could  not  have  been  co- 
eval with  matter  itself.  It  is,  therefore,  in  this  state 
only  that  we  can  view  matter,  detached  from  all 
internal  tendencies  and  extraneous  impulses ;  and 
iV  is  here  alone,  that  we  can  viiew  this  substance  in 
its'  real  and  most  simple  state. 

The  elements  into  which  all  matter  is  now  di- 
vided, may  probably  be  considered  as  its  simple 
state ;  and  w^  may  readily  conceive,  when  the  con- 
stituent particles  of  any  given  body  are  resolved  into 
those  primitive  elements,  out  of  which  they  were 
first  taken,  that  then  these  particles  are  reduced 
to  their  primitive  abodes.  In  our  common  modes 
of  language,  and  in  the  present  structure  of  the 
world,  this  sentiment  is  undoubtedly  just  ;•  but  even 


20  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  1. 

this  elementary  condliion  of  matter,  must,  for  rea- 
sons already  assigned,  be  one  remove  from  its  pri- 
mary state.  For  as  the  elements  of  ihis  world  can 
be  nothing  more  than  divisions  of  matter,  and  as  all 
substances  must  exist  before  they  can  be  divided, 
so  the  state  of  matter  undivided  into  elements, 
must  be  more  simple  than  the  elements  themseives 
now  are,  how  simple  soever  they  may  appear. 

In  this  original  state  of  things,  before  the  ele- 
ments were  formed,  they  could  not  possibly  have 
had  any  mode  of  existence  distinct  from  one  ano- 
ther ;  and  consequently  the  particles  which  now 
compose  these  elements,  could  have  had  no  distinct 
pomts  to  which  they  could  severally  tend.  All 
must  have  resorted  to  one  common  home,  and  not 
a  single  atom  could  have  had  any  tendency  to  seek 
any  new  abode.  In  this  original  state,  while  ail 
the  elements  were  mixed  in  their  pregnant  causes, 
every  pariicie  of  matter,  as  to  its  nature,  its  ten- 
dency, and  its  properties,  must  have  been  alike. 
And  in  this  state,  whatever  combinations  any  at^ms 
might  have  assumed,  no  tendency  could  have  re- 
sided within  them,  to  remove  them.from  that  station 
in  which  they  had  been  previously  fixed. 

As  the  different  elements  had  no  distinct  exist- 
ence, so  they  could  not  possibly  have  operated,  to 
recall  those  atoms  to  distinct  regions :  and  as  all 
matter  must  be  in  itself  inert,  and  resting  on  its 
commor^  centre,  no  tendency  to  remove  could  reside 
within  the  particles  themselves.  A*nd  consequcn  ly 
'^ill  bodies  which  are  removed  from  external  impulse 


Sect.  IV.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  21 

and  internal  tendency  to  motion,  whatever  their  in- 
ternal constitution  may  be,  must  continue  for  ever. 

That  all  matter,  in  its  most  simple  state,  must 
have  been  capable  of  divisibility,  is  demonstrated 
by  fact,  because  it  was  afterwards  divided  into  those 
elements  which  now  exist.  We  are,  therefore  led 
to  conclude,  that  whether  we  presume  matter  to 
have  been  modified  into  a  human  form,  or  into  a 
combination,  either  more  or  less  complex,  an  union 
of  divisible  particles  in  either  case  appears  necessary, 
without  including  a  necessity  of  dissolution,  any 
more  than  was  included  in  it  in  a  purely  chaotic 
state.  For  as  in  each  of  these  cases,  a  combination 
of  parts  appears  inseparable  from  matter,  so  each 
given  portion  of  matter  must  have  been  formed  of 
similar  materials,  possessing  similar  inertness, 
though  somewhat  diiferently  combined  :  and  so 
likewise  in  all  these  cases,  tliey  must  have  been  alike 
destitute  of  all  tendency  to  dissolution  and  decay. 
'i^i^-^.^KiSQ  particles  which  we  have  presumed  to 
have  been  modified  into  a  human  form,  must  have 
retained  their  respective  stations ;  and  continuing 
under  these  circumstances,  the  modification  itself 
must  have  continued  for  ever.  For  as  the  stability 
of  the  modification,  depends  entirely  upon  the  sta- 
bility of  those  particles,  on  which  that  modification 
depends  for  its  own  existence,  so  the  stabilit)'^  of  the 
particles  must  communicate  stability  to  the  modifi- 
cation,  and  therefore  the  particles  remaining  un^ 
changed,  the  modification  itself  must  continue  for 
ever. 

That  God  was  jible,  out  of  this  oj  Iginal  state  of 


n        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION       [Chap.  I, 

matter,  before  the  elements  had  obtaimed  their  sepa* 
rate  state  of  existence,  to  form  a  human  body,  had 
he  been  so  disposed,  no  man  Can  seriously  doubt, 
who  will  admit  him  to  be  possessed  of  infinite 
power.  It  is  from  this  vast  mass  of  materials  that 
Gcjd  has  actually  made  what  are  commonly  termed 
the  elements  themselves  ;  out  of  these  also  he  has 
made  the  world,  and  the  material  part  of  man. 
And  surely  vvc  cannot  doubt  that  the  same  power 
and  wisdom  which  formed  the  elementary  pai*- 
ticks  of  matter,  the  world,  and  iifian,  could, 
from  the  same  materials,  have  formed  man  with- 
out the  intervention  of  those  elements,  which,  sepa- 
rarely  con^^idered,  did  not  originally  exist.  And  if 
God,  m  this  primary  state  of  matter,  had  modified 
any  j^iven  number  or  quantity  of  particles  into  a  hu- 
man  body,  it  is  certain  under  the  circumstances 
given,  that  the  particles  thus  modified,,  could  havd 
had  no  tendency  i<s  separate  from  one  another,  any 
more  than  matter  under  any  other  mode^  could  have 
had  an  internal  tendency  to  infinite  divisibility.  And 
therefore,  as  the  particles  modified  could  have  had 
no  such  tendency  to  separate  from  one  another,  the 
modification,  which  depended  upon  the  stability  of 
their  situation,  could  not  have  been  lost ;  and  conse- 
quently, the  human  body,  into  which  we  have  sup^ 
posed  these  particles  to  have  been  wrought,  must 
have  acquired  perpetuity,  and  have  been  completely 
placed  beyond  the  reach  of  dissolution  and  decay. 

Under  these  considerations,  the  particles  of 
which  the  body  is  presumed  to  have  been  com- 
posed, could  have  no  specific  gravitation  towards 


Sect,  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY,  '    W 

their  respective  elements,  because  these  elements  as 
yet  had  no  distinct  existence.  And  that  common 
being,  which  we  may  presume  these  elements  to 
have  had  in  their  pregnant  causes,  must  have  re- 
sided as  much  in  the  particles  themselves,  which 
were  thus  modified  into  a  human  body,  as  in  any 
other  parts  of  that  chaotic  mass,  out  of  which  these 
particles  were  at  first  taken.  The  inertness  of  these 
atoms  must  have  prevented  them  from  begetting 
in  themselves  any  tendency  to  depart  from  that 
mode  which  we  have  presumed ;  and  as  one  mode, 
in  this  state,  must  have  been  as  congenial  to  their 
natures  as  another,  that  of  a  human  body  could  in- 
clude within  it  nothing  more  opposed  to  their  na- 
tures than  those  atoms  experienced,  which  lay  in  the 
undistinguished  mass,  in  which  matter  received  its 
first  formation.  Where,  inertness  pervades  any 
given  mass,  from  which  all  external  causes  are  to- 
tally removed,  through  which  the  parts  of  that  mass 
might  receive  an  influence  or  impulse,  there,  no 
tendency  to  change  can  possibly  exist ;  and. a  body 
thus  constituted,  and  thus  situated,  must  necessarily 
remain  forever.  For  since  the  stability  of  the  mo- 
dification must  depend  upon  the  permanency  of  the 
particles  modifitd,*the  modification  must  be  as  far 
removed  from  dissolution,  as  the  particles  them- 
selves are  from  separation  ;  and  consequently  both 
must  continue  for  ever.  Hence  then  this  final  con- 
clusion follows ;  that  though,  in  the  present  state  of 
ihUigSy  all  compounded  bodies  have  within  them 
a  natural  tendency  to  dissolution ;  and  though  eve- 
ry particle  perpetually  tends  towards  its  elementary- 


24  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  I. 

abode,  yet,  in  the  original  state  of  things,  it  could 
not  have  been  so.  The  tendencies,  therefore,  which 
we  perceive,  must  have  arisen  from  some  other 
source  ;  a  source,  which,  in  that  remote  period  of 
duration,  could  have  had  no  existence. 


SECTION  V. 

Arginneyits  tending  to  prove^  that  the  Immortality  of 
.    the  Body  of  Adam  was  secured  hij   the  effi.cacy  of 

the    Tree  of  Life,  notwithstanding  the  natural 
■    Tendency  of  the  Parts  to  DissvLation. 

• 

When,  from  this  remote  view,  in  which  we  hnve 
been  considering  the  constituent  divisible  parts  of 
matter,  before  the  elements  were  called  into  any  dis- 
tinct  existence,    we   turn   our  thoughts  to   those 
elements,  into  which  it  has  been  since  divided,  and 
from   which   the  human  body   has    been  actually 
formed,   the  natural  tendency  of  all  compounded 
bodies  to  dissolution  assumes  a  very  dilTerent  form. 
In  this  case,  without  all  doubt,  the  various  particles 
of  which  the  human  body  was  actually  formed,  have 
a  native  tendency  to  resolve  themselves  into  their 
pristine  elements,   through   an  inherent  tendency 
somewhat    analagous  to   gravitation.      This   pro- 
pensity, or  tendency,  seems  to  have  been  impressed 
upon  all  the  parts  of  matter  with  which  we  are  in- 
timately acquainted,  in  what   element   soever  they 
may  reside.     But  what  th&  origin  of  this  tendency 
is,  how  far  it  actually  extends,  and  what  the  boun- 


§ect.  V-l  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  25 

daries   of  its  operations  are,   appear   to  be  points 
which,  with  exact  precision,  we  cannot  comprehend. 

That  Adam,  when  created,  was  permitted  to  eat 
of  all  the  trees  in  the  garden^  except  one  which 
was  interdicted,  is  plain  scripture ;  and  from  this 
circumstance,  it  may  be  as  plainly  inferred  that  nu- 
trition was  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  his 
being.  And  since  iie  possessed  those  appetites  and 
faculties,  which  were  calculated  to  perform  all  the 
functions  of  animal  life,  I  can  discover  nothing 
which  could  mark  the  nature  of  his  body,  as  being 
distinct  from  that  of  our  own.  Nor  have  I  hitherto 
discovered  any  peculiar  properties  which  his  body 
could  possess,  except  that  manly  beauty  which  must 
have  resulted  from  that  perfect  state  of  moral  recti- 
tude, which  was inseperable  from  that  primeval  state 
of  man.  The  command  which  was  given  to  our  first 
parents  to  be  fruitful  and  multiply^  and  to  replen- 
ish the  earthy  proves  them  to  have  been  of  the 
same  earthly  mould  with  ourselves ;  though  mor- 
tality could  not  be  applied  to  their  condition,  nor 
could  death  attach  itself  to  the  great  progenitor  of 
mankind. 

There  can  be  no  doubt,  that  the  human  body 
was  originally  more  excellent  than  it  is  at  present, 
and  we  are  even  compelled  to  conclude  that  the  body 
of  Adam  approached  much  nearer  to  a  state  of  per- 
fection, than  the  bodies  of  any  of  his  posterity  have 
since  been  able  to  attain.  The  changes  which  moral 
evil  has  introduced,  are  such  as  baffle  all  calcula- 
tions ;  and  it  is  a  point  of  inextricable  difficulty  for 
us  to  decide,  how  far  we  have  descended  in  the 


S6  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  I. 

scale  of  human  dignity ;  how  much  our  organs  are 
impaired  ;  how  much  we  have  sunk  below  that 
standard  of  primeval  glory,  which  was  once  the  dis- 
tinguishing characteristic  of  man. 

As  man  came,immediately  from  the  hands  of  the 
Almighty,  nothing,  either  of  moral  evil  or  natural 
imperfection,  could  have  been  found  in  his  nature. 
And  so  far  as  beings  with  capacities  and  facul- 
ties which  were  limited  like  those  of  the  human 
species,  were  capable  of  bearing  any  resemblance  to 
the  moral  perfections  of  God,  n)an  must  have  been 
created  in  a  state  of  finite  perfection.  At  the  same 
time  the  human  body,,  which  formed  an  esscniial 
part  of  man,  must,  as  coming  from  the  hands  of  so 
excellent  a  workman,  in  conjunction  with  the  rank 
which  man  sustained  in  the  empire  of  creation,  have 
been  the  standard  of  all  terrestrial  beauty  and  per- 
fection. 

The  pure  state  of  the  atmosphere  in  which  man 
was  placed,  must  have  been  congenial  to  the  state 
of  his  body,  and  the  temperature  of  all  around  him, 
must  have  prevented  all  such  effects  as  are  produc- 
ed by  the  intensity  of  the  heats  of  summer  and  the 
colds  of  winter.  The  temperature  of  the  climate,  the 
purity  of  the  atmosphere,  the  odoriferous  exhala- 
tions which  all  vegetative  nature  conspired  to  yield, 
being  in  perfect  unison  with  his  bodily  organs,  must 
have  contributed  to  the  longevit}''  of  a  being  not 
otherwise  immortal, and  lengthened  out  the  existence 
of  man  to  an  extent  of  duration,  of  which  modern 
instances  can  furnish  us  with  no,  examples.  In 
fchort,  the  happiness  which  must  have  rtsultcd  from 


Beet,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  DODY.  27 

such  a  harmonious  state  of  things,  it  is  hard  to  con- 
ceive, and  still  more  difficult  to  express.  It  must 
have  been  a  felicity  to  which  we  are  strangers,  and 
of  which  we  must  be  content  to  remain  ignorant  in 
this  state  of  being,  and  which,  probably,  we  are 
under  the  necessity  of  dying  to  comprehend. 

In  the  midst  of  this  general  harmony,  from  what 
quarter  could  death  possibly  arise  ?  Could  death 
originate  in  God  ?  This  must  be  contrary  to  his  na- 
ture, and  contrary  to  the  facts  which  we  have  been 
contemplating.  The  general  harmony  of  all  nature 
had  demonstrated,  that  the  designs  of  God  were  to 
communicate  happiness,  and  the  immutability  of  his 
nature  precluded  the  possibility  of  a  change.  It 
must  have  been  contrary  to  the  divine  nature  to  les- 
sen that  felicity  which  he  had  bestowed,  which  death 
must  certainly  have  effected  ;  and  therefore  the  con- 
clusion is  certain,  that  death  could  not  possibly  ori- 
ginate  in  God. 

Could  then  the  dissolution  of  the  body  flow  from 
the  body  itself?  This,  under  circumstances  which 
we  now  review,  could  not  be  possible.  The  bodv 
.  gave  not  union  to  the  particles  of  which  it  was  com- 
posed, and  consequently  could'not  destroy  the  ad- 
hesion of  its  component  parts.  The  simple  particles 
of  rfiatter  never  can  be  lost,  in  what  form  soever 
they  may  be,  or  may  have  been  combined.  And 
the  modification  of  these  particles  into  a  human 
body,  through  the  supernatural  agency  of  God,  must 
necessarily  have  been  retained  also,  unless  that  su- 
pernatural agency  was  withdrawn,  which  his  immu- 
tability rendered  impossible  :  or  until  some   other 


28  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  I. 

adequate  cause  should  dissolve  the  uruon  between 
the  combined  atoms,  and  reduce  them  to  their  ele- 
mentary state* 

But  what  arguments  soever  raay  be  adduced  in  fa- 
vour of  primeval  immortality,  there  is  still  a  diffi- 
culty of  considerable  importance,  which  it  is  neces- 
sary to  remove.  The  elementary  divisions  which 
had  taken  place  in  matter,  had  removed  it  from  its 
primary  condition,  and  impressed  upon  it  the  in- 
fluence of  gravitation,  or  of  something  analogous 
thereto,  which,  by  acting  upon  every  particle,  must 
have  communicated  to  each  a  tendency,  which  was 
unknown  in  its  primitive  state.  The  body  of  Adam 
ivas  not  created  until  these  divisions  had  taken  place, 
and  being  composed  of  atoms  which  had  been  se- 
lected from  these  different  regions,  the  surrounding 
elements  must  have  acted  upon  every  part,  so  that 
the  silent  but  insinuating  impulses  which  were  im- 
perceptibly communicated,  must  have  been  produc- 
tive of  the  most  astonishing  eftects. 

Compounded  of  atoms,  and  formed  of  dissoluble 
parts,  the  body  of  Adam,  though  possessed  of  im- 
mortality, must  in  itself  have  been  capable  of  disso- 
lution ;  while  being  free  from  all  moral  evil,  it 
must  have  been  placed  beyond  the  influence  of  mor- 
tality ;  and  this  circumstance  must  have  ensured  to 
human  nature  that  exemption  from  death,  which 
sinless  natures  can  alone  claim  as  their  exciusivepri- 
vikgc.  Destitute  of  sin,  he  was  not  entitled  to 
its  \vages ;  Justice  therefore  could  inflict  no  punish- 
ment ;  and  consequently  his  body  must  have  been 
placed  beyond  the  reach  of  death,  ■  By  being  desti- 


Sect.  V.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  .29 

tute  of  the  cause,  he  was  exempted  from  its  effect, 
and  entitled  to  a  m^ode  and  duration  of  being,  which 
could  know  no  termination,  and  be  exposed  to  no 
decay.  It  is  therefore  to  the  influence  of  moral 
evil  that  we  must  look,  for  the  primary  source  of 
those  natural  evils  which  imbitter  life  ;  and,  finally, 
for  the  decay  of  the  human  body  in  all  the  gradual 
revolutions  and  changes,  which  are  attendant  upon 
mortals  in  this  afflicted  state  of  things  ;  and  that 
ultimate  dissolution  of  its  component  parts,  which 
invariably  succeeds  to  death. 

It  has  been  proved  in  the  preceding  Sections,  that 
if  moral  evil  had  never  entered  into  the  world,  death 
would  necessarily  have  been  unkown  ;  and  this 
fact  arises  from  the  immutability  and  moral  justice 
of  God.  But  as  the  human  body  was  made  from 
a  combination  of  those  distinct  elements,  into  which 
matter^ad  been  divided,  some  further  process  be- 
came necessary  in  the  divine  economy,  to  perpetuate 
the  duration  of  this  compound,  and  to  preserve  it 
from  natural  decay.  For  since  the  matter  of  which 
the  body  was  formed  had  been  collected  from  the 
different  elements,  we  may  naturally  presume,  that 
the  particles  which  were  thus  collected,  included 
within  themselves  a  natural  tendency  to  seek  their 
respective  elementary  abodes. 

Whether  the  dissolution  to  which  all  compounded 
bodies  are  now  liable,  arise  from  the  peculiar  na- 
ture of  the  atmosphere  with  which  we  are  sur- 
rounded, or  from  that  inherit  tendency  which  re- 
sides within  the  particles  themselves,  continually 
urgini^  them  towards  their  native  abodes,  is  a  point 


30        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  I. 

on  which  I  have  no  occasion  to  decide.     It  appears 
highly  propable,   that  dissolution   arises   from  the 
mutual  influence  of  both.     For,  though  all  matter 
be  in  itself  perfectly  indifferent  to  motion  and  rest, 
and  is  perfectly  passive  when  removed  from  all  ex- 
ternal influence,  yet,  from  a  native  tendency  some- 
what analogous  to  gravitation,  which  is   now  im- 
pressed upon  every  particle,   these  particles,  while 
removed  from  their  primitive  elements,  and  detained 
by  an  adhesive  power,  in  any  given  combinations, 
in  which  they  may  be  placed,  perpetually  seek  their 
elementary   state  of  repose.     Nevertheless,  \vhile 
the  power  of  adhesion   continues,   through   which 
these  exile  particles   are  detained  w^ithin  the  con- 
fines of  the  compounded  body,  this  adhesion  must 
be  too  strong  for  the  elementary  tendency   of  the 
particles  to  overcome.     And  hence  it  is  that  bodies 
continue  in  existence  through  the  adhesion*of  the 
parts,  while  the  parts  themselves  are  actuated  by 
opposite  tendencies,  and   are  constantly  seeking  a 
separation  from   each  other.     And  hence   also,  it 
may  be  undeniably  inferred,  that  while  this  adhesive 
power  continues  permanent,  the  particles  themselves 
must  pi-eserve   their  respective  stations,  and  neces- 
sarily remain  in   contact  with  each  other,  notwith- 
standing the  opposite  tendencies  which  arc  presum- 
ed to  reside  in  all. 

Nor  though  we  have  admitted  the  native  and  inhe- 
rent tendency,  of  the  different  elementary  particles, 
to  scperate,  and  to  seek  their  native  homes,  yet,  while 
by  the  power  of  adhesion  this  contact  is  preserved, 
the  whole  body  must  be  nearly  in  a  passive  state  ;  at 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  31 

least,  it  must  be  passive  in  proportion  to  the  adjust- 
ment of  those  elements  of  which  it  is  composed. 
The  power  of  adhesion  which  cements  the  parts 
must  be  considered  as  counteracting  all  hostile  ten- 
dencies ;  and  as  making  a  point  of  union  to  arise 
from  that  mutual  contact  which  it  continues  to  pre- 
serve. And  probably  as  this  adhesive  energy  coun- 
teracts that  tendency  which  the  particles'  have,  to 
seek  their  respective  elements,  matter  must  be  re- 
duced to  nearly  the  same  condition,  as  that  in  which 
it  would  have  been  if  no  such  tendency  ha,d  resided 
within  any  part  of  the  compounded  body.  It  will 
therefore  follow,  that  the  dissolution  of  the  body 
cannot  be  jusily  said  to  originate  exclusively  in  any 
tendency  which  is  lodged  within  the  particles  of 
which  it  is  composed,  because  this  tendency  is  sub- 
dued by  the  power  of  adhesion,  but  dissolution  must 
primarily  originate  in  some  external  cause.  This 
cause  appears  to  be  the  atmosphere. 

That  atmospheric  air,  by  its  penetrating  quali- 
ties, must  be  capable  of  entering  most  of  the  hidden 
recesses  of  all  compounded  bodies,  is  a  truth  too 
obvious  to  require  proof.  And  we  are  well  assured 
from  observation  and  experiment,  that  it  is  capable 
of  destroying  that  adhesive  quality,  which  combines 
the  distinct  particles  of  which  the  human  body  is 
formed,  and  through  wluch  the  different  elements 
adhere  together.  The  adhesion  being  destroyed, 
through  the  penetrating  influence  of  atmospheric 
air,  particle  after  particle  must  be  disengaged  from 
the  preceding  union,  and  disengaged  from  their 
compounded  state.  And  as  this  disdiurge  of  the  par- 


38  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  I. 

tides  from  their  adhesive  state,  must  permit  that 
tendency  in  each  to  operate,  which  had  been  sus- 
pended through  that  power  of  adhesion  which  is 
now  no  more,  they  must  naturally  seek  their  ele- 
mentary abodes,  in  which  they  mast  continue  until 
removed  by  another  external  impulse. 

On  the  ground  of  this  theory  it  will  perhaps  be 
objected.  "  That  as  the  elements  were  in  exist- 
ence at  the  time  when  Adam  was  first  formed,  the 
atmosphere  must  have  acted  upon  him,  and  there- 
fore the  final  dissolution  of  the  human  body  is  a 
necessary  consequence  of  its  compounded  state, 
and,  that  the  event  must  have  taken  place,  although 
moral  evil  had  never  entered  into  the  world." 

That  the  above  objection  contains  a  difficulty 
which  opposes  itself  to  the  theory  I  have  been  ad- 
vancing, I  most  readily  allow,  but  I  flatter  myself 
that  it  is  a  difficulty,  which  will  admit  of  a  satisfac- 
tory solution  :  and  that  this  solution  may  be  found 
in  the  Tree  of  Lije.'^' 


*  As  there  must  be  in  the  particles  of  all  bodies  which  are 
compounded  of  difterent  elements,  a  natural  tendency  to  seek 
their  primitive  abodes,  Infinite  goodness  has  wisely  provided 
for  this  tendency,  and  counteracted  its  efficacy  by  that  power 
of  adhesion  which  preserves  the  body  modified.  Thus  pro- 
viding for  the  perpetuity  of  the  compounded  body,  by  the 
compound  itself,  notwithstanding  the  opposite  tendencies  of 
the  particles  of  which  it  is  composed. 

But  here  a  new  difficulty  arises  relative  to  the  body  of  Adam. 
The  air  which  he  respired,  and  which  was  a1)Solulely  neces- 
sary to  the  existence  of  animal  life,  possessed,  through  its 
penetrating    influence,  a  power  to  destroy    that    adhesioii 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  33 

That  the  tree  of  life  was  placed  m  the  garden 
of  Eden  will  admit  of  no  doubt  with  those  who  be- 
lieve the  Bible,  and  it  is  incumbent  on  those  who 
disbelieve  it  to  account  for  facts  which  they  dare  not 
deny ;  and  to  substitute  in  the  room  of  scripture 
a  more  rational  account  than  that  which  they  de- 
spise. As  this  tree  of  life  was  planted  in  the 
garden  by  him  who  does  nothing  in  vain,  we  are 
well  assured  that  it  must  have  been  planted  there 
for  some  purpose,  and  to  know  what  that  purpose 
was,  is  the  principal  question  remaining,  into  which 
we  must  now  inquire. 

It  is  expressly  called,  in  the  language  of  Moses 
the  tree  of  life^  which  name  could  not  have  been 
given  to  it,  unless  it  were  endued  with  a  life-giviiig 
quality.  Now  certain  it  is,  that  this  tree  could  not 
have  been  designed  to  communicate  the  origin  of 
life,  because  this  supposition  is  contradicted  by  the 
whole   train  of  circumstances  connected  with   it. 

which  prevented  the  particles  from  retiring  to  their  native 
abodes.  In  this  case  also  we  see  the  infinite  goodness  of  God 
in  providing  the  Tree  of  Life ^  the  salubrious  efficacy  of  which, 
we  may  presume,  counteracted  the  dissolvent  quality  of  the  at- 
mosphere, and  preserved  the  body  unhurt,  amidst  the  opposite 
tendencies  which  encircled  it.  In  this  view  we  discover  the 
perpetuity  of  the  human  body  ensui'ed  on  the  most  permanent 
basis,  though  composed  of  particles  which  belong  to  different 
elements,  each  of  which  had  an  innate  tendency  to  seek  its 
native  abode.  And  at  the  same  time  we  discover  this  assurance 
of  perpetuity,  while  the  body  was  surrounded  with  an  atmos- 
phere which  penetrated  its  inmost  recesses,  and  wiiich  perpet- 
ually tended  to  destroy  the  adhesion  of  those  pixrticles  of  which 
ii  was  composed. 

G 


U  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  f. 

The  eating  of  the  fruit  was  the  means  through 
which  its  life-giving  quality  was  to  be  communicated 
to  man  ;  and  as  the  power  of  eating  implies  action 
in  the  eater,  it  must  of  consequence  imply  the  pos» 
session  of  life  previously  to  all  application  made  to 
this  tree.  The  origin  of  life  could  therefore  never 
be  communicated  to  man  through  any  efficacy 
which  it  could  possess. 

Neither  could  this  tree  be  designed  to  restore 
life  to  those  who  had  been  deprived  of  it,  because 
death  could  in  this  period  have  had  iio  existence. 
And  even  if  we  allow  that  death  had  at  that  time  be- 
gun its  ravages,  those  who  were  the  subjects  of  it 
must  have  been  incapable  of  making  that  active  ap- 
plication, which  Vv'as  necessary  in  order  to  their  be- 
ing benefited  by  its  salubrious  efficacy. 

Neither  can  we  suppose  that  the  design  of  this 
tree  was  to  communicate  to  man  the  power  to  pro- 
pagate future  life,  because  this  power  had  been  pre- 
viously communicated,  independently  of  this  tree. 
And  in  addition  to  this,  we  find  that  this  power  is 
still  retained,  though  this  tree  has  been  placed  be- 
yond all  human  reach.  In  what  light  soever  there 
fore  we  view  this  tree  of  life,  our  conclusions  be 
come  ridiculous  and  absurd,  unless  we  presume 
that  it  had  the  power  to  perpetuaie  that  life,  which 
had  been  previously  communicated  from  God.  It 
is  therefore  but  reasonable  to  conclude,  that  the  de- 
sign  of  its  efficacy  was  to  counteract  the  dissolvent 
influence  of  the  atmosphere,  by  which  means  the 
adhesion  of  the  panicles  became  permanent, 
and  through  which  the  human  body,  though  com- 


Sect,  v.]        OF  THE  HUMAN-BODY.  35 

pounded  of  dissoluble  parts,   was  preserved  from 
dii.solution  and  decay. 

If  this  tree  of  life,  whatever  might  have  been  its 
nature,  had  not  possessed  the  invigorating  quality, 
why  was  it  denominated  the  Tree  of  Life  ?  Why 
was  it  placed  in  the  garden  in  the  primeval  state  of 
man  ?  Why  was  it  removed  when  moral  evil  was 
introduced  ?  And  removed  on  this  express  account, 
lest  man  put  forth  his  hand,  and  take,  and  eaty  and 
live  for  ever  P  Is  it  that  we  are  amused  in  the  book 
of  God  with  idle  theories  ?  Or  can  we  suppose  that 
the  Father  of  mercies  has  sent  us  these  accounts, 
to  mock  the  creatures  whom  he  had  created,  and  that 
he  has  thus  added  deception  to  the  miseries  of  human 
life  ?  If  conduct  like  this  can  be  attributed  to  God, 
we  are  at  a  loss  to  know  the  essential  properties  of 
his  nature,  and  are  utterly  unable  to  reconcile  such 
actions  with  his  exalted  perfections.  But  if  such 
conduct  be  not  attributable  to  him,  we  then  must  at- 
tribute to  the  tree  of  life,  a  life-giving  quality,  and 
fmally  conclude  that  the  efficacy  of  its  fruit  tended 
to  ensure  immortality  to  those  bodies  which  in 
themselves  were  formed  of  dissoluble  parts.  In  the 
following  order,  therefore,  this  branch  of  the  divine 
economy  presents  itself  to  our  view. 

The  human  body  which  God  created,  was  form- 
ed  of  parts ;  these  parts  had  been  taken  from  dif- 
ferent elements,  and  included  in  their  nature,  a 
perpetual  tendency  towards  their  primitive  abodes. 
To  counteract  this  tendency  which  resided  withiri 
the  parts,  an  adhesive  power  was   communicated, 


36        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION       [Chap.  I. 

through  the  efficacy  of  which,  that  tendency  was  ar- 
rested,  and  all  separation  of  the  parts  from  one  an- 
other prevented  from  taking  place. 

But  while  this  power  of  adhesion  prevented  the 
particles  from  separation,  the  atmosphere,  u'hich 
was  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  all  animal  life, 
possessing  a  dissolvent  quality,  naturally  tended  to 
destroy  the  adhesive  power. 

The  destruction  of  the  adhesive  power,  fhust  have 
liberated  every  particle,  while  the  native  tendency 
of  these  particles  must  have  urged  them  to  seek  and 
find  their  native  abodes,  through  which  the  human 
body  must  have  been  destroyed. 

Here  are  now  before  us  two  thin2:s  to  be  subdu- 

o 

ed,  in  order  to  the  perpetuity  of  human  life ;  namely, 
the  native  tendency  of  the  particles  themselves,  and 
the  dissolvent  influence  of  the  atmosphere.  To 
counteract  the  former,  the  power  of  adhesion  Avhich 
connected  together  the  parts  of  the  body  was  suffici- 
ent ;  but  to  counteract  the  latter  required  another 
cause,  and  this  cause  we  find  in  the  tree  of  life. 
The  efficacy  of  this  tree,  appears  to  have  been  suf- 
ficient to  repair  the  ravages  which  the  atmosphere 
occasionally  made  ;  and  to  strengthen  those  powers 
of  adhesion  which  the  influence  of  the  atmosphere 
tended  to  destroy.  Through  these  means,  the 
parts  of  which  the  human  body  was  composed, 
though  possessing  in  themselves  a  tendency  to  sepa- 
rate, were  preserved  Irom  dissolution ;  and  the 
body  whigh  these  parts  composed  was  placed  be- 
yond the  influence  of  dec^y.     Such, therefore,  was 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  37 

perhaps  the  primitive  state  of  things.  And  while 
this  tree  of  life  continues  its  interposing  influence, 
it  must  have  effectually  prevented  the  ultimate  ac- 
complishment of  that  tendency  which  resided  in  the 
parts,  by  counteracting  that  influence  which  the  at- 
mosphere exercised  over  the  adhesive  power,  which 
connected  the  particles  of  which  the  body  was 
composed. 

Nor  is  this  merely  inventing  a  theory  to  serve  the 
purposes  of  an  hypothesis.  Reason  concurs  with 
divine  authority  to  give  sanction  to  the  sentiment ; 
the  tree  of  life  was  planted  in  the  garden,  and  free- 
dom was  given  Adam  to  partake  of  its  fruit ;  it  was 
only  removed  from  him  after  he  had  fallen  from 
God,  lest  he  put  forth  his  hand^  and  take  also  of 
the  tree  of  life^  and  eat  and  live  forever.  If  there- 
fore a  theory  more  rational  cannot  be  invented 
than  that  which  the  Bible  affords,  the  hypothesis 
before  us  has  a  double  claim  upon  our  assent; 
nameh%  from  the  rationality  of  the  facts  them- 
selves, and  from  the  authority  which  these  facts 
derive  from  revelation. 

If  B.  when  created,  were  compounded  of  mate- 
rials taken  partly  from  A.  and  partly  from  C.  and 
if  these  particles  which  formed  a  contact  in  B.  were 
to  have  in  the  aggregate  an  equal,  or  even  an  un- 
equal tendency  towards  A.  and  C.  from  which  they 
were  first  taken,  it  is  demonstrably  certain,  that 
while  the  contact  continued  in  B.  no  particle  could 
depart  either  to  A.  or  C. ;  under  these  circumstan- 
ces it  is  undeniably  certain,  that  the  compounded 


38  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  I. 

body  B.  must  remain  forever.  For  as  the  tenden- 
cies of  tlie  particles,  ia  B.  are  supposed  to  be  either 
equal  or  unequal,  those  particles  which  had  been 
taken  from  C.  will,  in  either  case,  prevent  those 
which  had  been  taken  from  A.  from  separately  re. 
turning  to  their  native  abode  at  A.  and  the  result 
will  be  exactly  the  same  if  we  reverse  the  case. 
But  if,  through  any  external  cause,  the  adhesion  or 
contact  in  B.  should  be  destroyed,  each  particle 
would  be  at  liberty  to  retire  to  its  respective  element, 
through  its  native  tendency  ;  and  in  this  case  the 
compounded  body  B.  would  be  no  more.  Hence 
then  it  plainly  follows,  that  though  we  consider  B. 
to  be  a  compounded  body,  and  though  the  particles 
which  compose  it  have  tendencies  to  other  abodes, 
yet,  v.'hile  these  tendencies  are  counteracted,  and 
the  contact  preserved,  the  compounded  body  must 
be  indissoluble,  and  consequently  immortal. 

Now  this  comparison,  even  if  partial  in  its  appli- 
cation, will  sufficiently  prove  the  point  for  which  it 
has  been  adduced.  The  human  body  is  the  com- 
pound in  question,  and  this  illustrative  argument 
will  prove,  that  while  the  power  of  adhesion  con- 
tinues perfect  and  entire,  though  the  particles  of 
which  it  was  composed,  may  have  distinct  tendcn, 
cies  to  depart  to  their  respective  elements,  yet, 
while  the  power  of  adhesion  remains,  these  distinct 
tendencies  Vv'ould  be  overcome,  and  the  com- 
pounded body  will  be  precisely  the  same  as  though 
IV)  such  tendency  had  inhered  in  any  of  the  particles 
&f  which  it  was  composed. 


Sect.  V.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  39 

To  destroy  that  adhesion  which  united  the  differ- 
ent parts  of  the  human  body  together,  the  atmos- 
phere had  undoubtedly  a  power ;  and  if  nothin,^ 
had  been  created  to  counteract  its  efficacy,  no  doubt 
that  it  must  eventually  have  been  dissolved.  But 
to  suppose  the  dissolution  of  the  human  body  to  take 
place,  either  through  the  defect  of  its  own  nature, 
or  through  an  adverse  principle  in  any  external 
cause  while  we  admit  moral  evil  to  be  unknown,  is 
to  impeach  the  moral  justice  of  God. 

The  justice  of  God  could  only  engage  him  to 
prevent  death  from  taking  place,  the  ways  and  man- 
ners must  be  left  to  his  disposal.  He  might  have 
created  an  atmosphere  without  including  within  it 
any  noxious  qualities,  or  he  might  have  given  such 
qualities  to  it  and  have  counteracted  their  efficacy, 
without  implicating  the  principles  of  eternal  justice. 
He  might  also  have  formed  the  body  of  particles 
which  had  no  tendencies  contrary  to  one  another ; 
or  have  formed  it  from  those  which  had  an  opposite, 
and  have  provided  for  the  safety  of  the  body  through 
the  medium  of  some  cement  which  should  unite  the 
whole  together,  without  being  chargeable  with  mu- 
tability, and  without  being  unjust.  These,  or  a  va- 
riety of  other  ways,  all  equally  within  the  reach  of 
infinite  power,  the  Almighty  might  have  selected, 
as  infinite  w^isdom  might  have  directed  Ips  choice. 

But  in  the  midst  of  these  possible  theories,  we 
find  that  he  chose  to  create  the  human  body,  under 
circumstances  apparently  the  least  favourable  to  its 
continuence,  while  he  provided  for  its  perpetuity  on 
the  most  imihoveable  basis.     He  compounded  it  of 


40  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  I. 

particles  of  opposite  tendencies,  %vhich  had  been 
selected  from  distant  elements ;  and  then  placed 
this  body  under  the  influence  of  an  atmosphere,  ca- 
pable of  dissolving  the  adhesion  through  which  the 
different  particles  which  composed  it,  adhered  to- 
gether. Yet,  even  under  these  circumstances,  he 
provided  for  its  safety  by  the  tree  of  life,  the  salu- 
brity of  which  not  only  counteracted  the  influence  of 
the  atmosphere,  but  protected  the  adhesive  power 
which  preserved  the  particles,  and  renewed  the 
body  in  perpetual  vigour. 

Thus  then  we  find,  that  what  tendency  soever  to 
dissolution  may  be  presumed  to  reside  in  all  com- 
pound bodies,  Infinite  wisdom  had  wisely  provid- 
ed for  the  immortality  of  man,  in  the  primeval 
state  of  things,  by  an  eflTicacy  which  must  have 
overcome,  and  risen  superior  to  those  circumstances 
on  which  the  objection  which  we  have  been  examin- 
ing, rests.  The  tree  of  life  must  have  placed  the 
human  body  at  a  distance  which  must  for  ever  have 
prevented  the  approaches  of  death,  and  have  en- 
sured  to  it  that  immortality  which  is  lost,  and  can 
only  be  attained,  when  the  sea  and  the  grave  shall 
finally  restore  their  dead. 

And  hence  also,  on  a  review  of  those  principles 
which  we  have  surveyed,  the  following  inferences 
and  conclusions  rise  before  us.  While  moral  evil  is 
presumed  to  have  no  existence,  no  other  reason  can 
arise  in  any  subsequent  period  of  duration,  why  the 
body  should  be  destroyed,  than  what  must  have  ex- 
isted antecedently  to  its  actual  creation ;  for  where 
any  given  created  being  continues  morally  and  phy- 


Sect.  V.}  OF  THE  HUMAN  BOt)Y.  4r 

sically  the  same,  no  change  whatever  can  be  pre- 
sumed to  have  taken  place  ;  and  certain  it  is,  that  no 
new  moral  obligation  can  be  presumed  to  originate 
in  a  being  that  is  absolutely  perfect  and  immutable 
in  all  his  ways.  And  if  we  admit  the  same  moral 
causes  to  have  been  in  existence  at  the  primary 
formation  of  man,  through  the  active  operation  of 
which  the  human  body  has  been  since  destroyed, 
we  shall  feel  ourselves  utterly  unable  to  vindicate 
the  divine  justice  in  the  creating  of  man.  For  if 
God  be  under  a  moral  obligation  to  destroy  the 
human  body,  and  this  obligation  arises  from  the 
nature  of  moral  justice,  (and  without  this  divine 
goodness  must  have  forbidden  the  event)  this  obli- 
gation must  have  existed  from  eternity  ;  God  must 
therefore  have  been  under  a  moral  obligation  to  de- 
stroy the  body,  even  in  that  identical  moment  in 
which  he  called  it  into  being  from  the  dust  of  the 
earth.  And  to  suppose  God  to  have  chosen  to  create 
a  body,  which  he,  in  that  very  moment  must  have 
been  under  an  obligation  to  destroy,  is  to  make  the 
choice  of  God  to  operate  in  hostility  to  moral  justice ; 
and  that  choice  which  thus  operates  in  hostility  to 
moral  justice,  must  in  itself  be  unjust.  But  to  sup- 
pose the  fountain  head  of  all  justice  and  perfection 
to  be  actuated  by  a  choice  which  is  repugnant  to  all 
that  is  just  and  perfect,  will  involve  some  palpable 
contradictions ;  and  therefore  this  choice  cannot  be 
applied  to  God. 

But  if,  on  the  contrary,  no  such  obligation  did 
exist,  in  God,  and  no  moral  cause  of  destruction 
could  have  existed  in  man,  either   when  he  was 

H 


42  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  I. 

created,  or  in  any  subsequent  period,  while  he  pre- 
served his  rectitude  and  innocence  ;  and  since  all 
natural  tendencies  to  dissolution,  and  natural  caus- 
es of  destruction,  are  presumed  to  be  counter- 
acted, it  becomes  a  subject  of  further  inquiry  to 
know  whence  this  moral  obligation  has  arisen. 
Whatever  the  cause  may  be,  of  this  truth  we  are 
satisfactorily  assured,  that  it  could  not  have  existed 
in  the  original  state  of  things,  but  that  it  must  date 
its  commencement  from  some  subsequent  period. 
And  of  this  we  may  also  be  convinced,  that  to  this 
cause  we  must  attribute  all  the  inroads  which  have 
been  made  on  the  creation  of  God,  in  all  its  parts, 
as  well  as  that  final  dissolution  which  the  human 
body  is  destined  to  undergo. 

We  may,  nevertheless  presume  with  confidence, 
that  as  this  cause  of  calamity  is  but  an  intruder  into 
the  fair  empire  of  creation,  when  it  shall  be  done 
away,  and  be  completely  banished  from  the  world, 
then  a  renovation  of  all  nature  shall  take  place ; 
then  things  shall  be  recalled  back  to  their  primeval 
stations,  and  death  itself  shall  be  no  more.  Then, 
moral  evil,  and  those  natural  effects  which  have 
been  produced  by  its  innovations,  shall  cease  for 
ever,  and  the  original  energies  which  called  crea- 
tion into  actual  existence,  re-assuming  their  sta- 
tions, shall  continue  without  obstruction  to  operate 
through  eternity. 


Chap.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  4S 


CHAPTER  II. 


ON  THE  INTRODUCTION  OF  MORAL  EVIL,  AND  ITS 
INFLUENCES  ON  THE  HUMAN  BODY  J  AND  ON 
THE    RhMOVAL   OF    THE   TREE  OF  LIFE. 

X*  ROM  the  various  arguments  which  have  been  ad- 
duced in  the  preceding  Sections,  I  conceive  that  it 
will  be  admitted,  that  a  finite  being  which  had  beeji 
created  in  a  state  of  moral  rectitude,  and  which  God 
at  the  moment  in  which  it  was  created  was  under  no 
moral  obligation,  to  destroy,  could  not  have  created 
that  moral  obligation,  while  its  nature  and  tenden- 
cies remained  the  same,  and  while  it  continued  in 
the  same  state  in  which  it  was  created.  And  as  God, 
from  the  immutability  of  his  nature,  must  be  incapa- 
ble of  those  imperfections  which  are  implied  in  such 
a  change  as  we  must  suppose,  no  cause  could  ori- 
ginate with  him,  while  the  creature  preserved  its  pri- 
mitive state.  For  since  the  existence  of  the  human 
body  must  have  added  to  the  felicities  of  life,  it  ap. 
pears  impossible  to  conceive  that  God  should  de- 
stroy this  body,-  without  diminishing  that  portion  of 
happiness  w^hich  his  goodness  had  originally  given  ; 
and  which,  in  this  view,  he  must  have  made  to  de- 
pend upon  the  preservation  of  the  material  part  of 
man.     If,  therefore,  to  suppose  that  God  can.  v/ith- 


44  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  II, 

out  any  adequate  cause,  destroy  any  portion  of  that 
felicity  Avhich  originated  in  his  goodness,  be  to  place 
his  goodness  in  opposition  to  itself,  which  will 
amount  to  a  contradiction;  it  follows  with  decisive 
evidence,  that  if  moral  evil  had  never  entered  into 
the  World,  the  human  body,  as  well  as  the  human 
soul,  must  have  been  immortal.  Thus  far,  the 
ground  appears  clear ;  thus  far  no  obligation  to  des- 
troy man  nor  any  cause  of  dissolution  has  made  its 
appearance,  either  on  the  part  of  God  or  man  ;  and 
thus  far,  immortality  appears  to  be  inseparable  from 
the  primitive  state. 

But  in  the  midst  of  this  plausibility  of  theory,  we 
find  that  all  the  arguments  which  have  been  adduced 
are  placed  in  direct  opposition  to  fact.  The  world 
is  constantly  falling  to  pieces  round  about  us,  and 
human  bodies  are  hourly  peopling  the  abodes  of 
death.  Generation  succeeds  to  generation,  and  man 
to  man  ;  and,  in  a  few  more  years,  it  will  be  forgot- 
ten by  our  posterity  that  we  were  ever  born. 
Hence  then  we  are  assured,  that  the  arguments  ad- 
vanced must  apply  to  another  state  of  things ;  a 
state  that  existed  before  either  moral  evil  or  death 
had  made  its  entry  into  the  territories  and  habitation 
of  man.  And  hence  also  we  learn,  that  some 
important  change  must  have  taken  place  in  the  state 
of  man,  to  produce  those  disastrous  efl'ects  which 
constantly  appear  in  these  terrestrial  regions. 

No  change  can  take  place  in  a  being  that  is  im- 
mutable ;  the  changes  ^vhich  have  entered  into  ex- 
istence, must,  therefore,  reside  in  man ;  and  no 
cause  appears  capable  of  producing  those  changes 


Chap.  II.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  45 

which  we  discover,  but  moral  evil.  It  is  to  moral 
evil,  therefore,  that  we  must  look  for  all  the  dis- 
asters and  calamities  which  afflict  and  imbitter  life  ; 
and  to  this  cause  we  must  attribute  the  final  dissolu- 
tion of  the  human  body,  as  well  as  its  state  of  capti- 
vity in  the  empire  of  death. 

But  for  moral  evil,  death  could  havQ  had  no  ex- 
istence, because  it  is  the  reward  of  sin  ;  the  Eden 
of  our  ancestors  would  have  been  our  lot  for  a  sea- 
son, which  we  are  now  unable  to  comprehend,  till, 
perhaps  by  the  appointment  of  God,  we  might  have 
been  translated  into  another  region,  where  probation, 
peccability  and  contingencies,  would  have  been 
alike  unknown. 

We  are  now  called  to  survey  a  scene,  which  pre- 
sents us  with  causes,  obligations,  and  consequences, 
totally  distinct  from  those,  which,  in  the  preceding 
Sections,  have  occupied  our  thoughts.  In  those  w^e 
have  contemplated  the  primitive  and  immortal  state 
of  man ;  and  in  this,  we  must  behold  the  entrance  of 
moral  evil  into  the  world,  and  view  the  fatal  influ- 
ence which  it  has  extended  over  the  human  body  ; 
the  former  we  discover  in  theory,  but  the  latter  we 
must  experience  in  awful  fact. 

What  the  nature  of  moral  evil  is  in  the  abstract, 
probably,  in  the  present  state,  we  shall  never  know ; 
it  is,  however  well  known  in  its  effects  and  conse- 
quences ;  and  from  hence  we  learn  that  it  is  and  must 
be  exactly  the  reverse  of  God.  That  it  had  a  be- 
ginning has  been  already  proved  ;  and  that  it  has 
corrupted  and  debased  human  nature,  is  too  plain  to 


4fi  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION   [Chap.  II. 

require  any  evidence.  When  we  take  a  survey  of 
moral  evil,  and  contemplate  human  nature,  itappears 
mysterious  that  itshould  be  capable  of  extending  in- 
fluences over  the  material  part  of  man.  Accustom- 
ed as  we  have  been  to  behold  matter  operating 
through  the  medium  of  matter,  it  is  not  without 
some  difficulty,  that  we  can  divest  our  minds  of 
those  local  prejudices  which  are  connected  with  our 
habits  of  reflection. 

There  are,  however,  appearances  in  the  creation, 
which,  though  capable  of  demonstration,  are  equally 
removed  from  popular  observation,  and  abstract, 
ediy  from  those  modes  of  proof  of  which  they  are 
susceptible,  would  equally  lay  an  embargo  on  all 
belief.  And  were  the  immediate  influence  of  moral 
evil  on  the  material  part  of  man,  placed  as  much 
within  the  reach  of  demonstration,  as  those  singu- 
lar appearances  which  the  more  visible  parts  of  crea- 
tion afibrd,  improbability  in  appearance  would 
never  be  considered  as  an  argument  against  fact, 
nor  would  it  operate  as  an  obstacle  against  our 
belief. 

That  spirit  is  capable  of  operating  upon  matter, 
will  hardly  admit  of  a  moment's  doubt,  it  being  sup- 
ported by  the  most  unquestionable  evidence,  that  of 
sensible  proof.  For  if  all  primary  motion  in  the 
material  world  has  been  impressed  upon  matter  by 
some  foreign  impulse,  it  is  evident  that  it  must 
liave  originated  in  a  source  distinct  from,  and  inde- 
pendent of  matter  ;  and,  therefore,  to  a  being  which 
is  purely  spiritual,  we  must  look   for  the  origin  of 


Chap.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  47 

that  motion  which  is  so  visible  in  our-  senses  and 
intellectual  powers.  If  then  all  motion  which  we 
perceive  in  matter  must  primarily  have  originated 
in  spirit,  it  must  undeniably  follow,  that  spirit  must 
have  modes  of  communicating  its  impulses  to  mat- 
ter, though  these  modes  are  too  obscure  for  our 
comprehension. 

That  there  is  within  us  a  spiritual  substance  is  a 
point  which  I  shall  assume  without  attempting  to 
prove,  and  that  there  is  an  intimate  connection 
between  this  spiritual  substance,  and  the  material 
part  of  man,  is  evident  from  the  whole  course  of 
human  actions.*  But  how  this  connection  is  form- 
ed, how  any  influence  is  communicated,  and  by 
what  secret  ties  the  union  is  preserved,  are  points, 
which,  in  the  present  state  "of  being,  perhaps  we 
shall  never  know.  The  immaterial  principle  which 
resides  within  us,  is,  without  all  doubt,  capable  of 
influencing  and  operating  upon  our  bodies,  but  to 
what  points  this  influence  and  operation  extend,  or 
where  those  lines  are  drawn,  beyond  the  boundaries 
of  which  they  cannot  pass,  are  subjects  which  elude 
our  deepest  researches. 

Most  men  are  willing  to  allow  that  this  influence 
shall  extend  to  those  cases  in  which  we  can  trace 
the  connection,  and  here  we  are  apt  to  presume  that 
all  influence  must  end.  But  certain  it  is,  that  we 
have  no  more  right  to  say  to  the  influence  of  spirit 
over  matter,  thus  far  shalt  thou  come,  but  no  further, 
than  others  have  to  deny  this  influence  altogether, 

*  See  my  Essay  on  the  Immateriality  and  Immortality  of 
the  Human  Soul. 


48  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IL 

because  they  can  trace  out  no  connection  between 
the  two  substances  The  inability  of  one  man  to 
comprehend  how  this  influence  should  extend  be- 
yond the  boundaries  of  his  comprehension,  can  no 
more  be  admitted  as  an  argument,  that  the  influence 
must  terminate  there,  than  the  inability  of  another 
to  comprehend  this  influence,  in  any  possible  case 
whatever,  can  be  admitted  as  an  argument  against 
its  existence.  In  both  of  these  cases,  the  extent  of 
human  comprehension  is  unjustly  made  the  bound- 
ary of  the  influence  of  spirit.  In  the  latter  case, 
we  have  a  decisive  proof  that  the  decision  is  errone- 
ous, and  we  have  but  little  reason  more  to  believe 
that  the  former  is  free  from  error.  The  plain  truth 
seems  to  be,  that  our  comprehension  of  any  given 
fact,  can  never  prescribe  boundaries  to  it ;  the  fact 
itself  must  be  admitted  to  exist  independently  of 
human  knowledge ;  and,  therefore,  the  influence 
of  spirit  must  be  allowed  to  operate  in  those  regions 
where  the  human  understanding  cannot  possibly 
enter.  The  hopes  and  fears,  the  joys  and  griefs,  the 
pains  and  pleasures  of  the  present  life,  will,  in  a 
thousand  cases,  prove  the  fact,  because  we  must 
admit  their  existence,  and  they  can  be  traced  to  no 
other  source  ;  and  with  the  influences  which  are 
thus  extended  through  natural  life,  must  be  con- 
nected the  influence  of  those  causes  which  produce 
both  moral  and  immoral  actions. 

That  moral  evil  has  in  itself  a  positive  and  inde- 
pendent existence,  I  believe  no  one  will  aflirm  ;  it 
therefore  can  have  no  more  than  a  relative  being,  and 
can  exist  no  longer  than  those  beings  continue  to 


Chap.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  4^ 

exist,  which  are  capable  of  maral  actions.  For  if 
all  moral  agents  were  at  once  destroyed,  it  would 
be  an  absurdity  too  gross  to  be  imposed  upon  the 
mind  of  man,  to  suppose  that  in  this  case  moral  evil 
could  have  any  kind  of  existence.  As,  therefore, 
moral  evil  has  not  in  itself  any  kind  of  positive 
existence,  we  must  look  to  moral  agents  fr>r  all  the 
being  which  it  can  possibly  possess.  And  although 
moral  evil  is,  in  a  moral  point  of  view,  nothing 
more  than  the  sinful  thoughts  and  actions  of  a  mo- 
ral agent,  physically  capable  of  a  better  conduct, 
yet  so  far  can  it  extend  its  fatal  influence  in  its  ef- 
fects and  consequences,  as  to  derange  the  whole 
human  system,  separate  soul  and  body,  decompose 
our  whole  corporeal  frame,  and  finally  lodge  our  ma- 
terial parts  in  the  house  appointed  for  all  living,  in 
which  state  they  must  continue  until  the  arrival  of 
that  period,  in  which  God  shall  accomplish  those 
promises  which  he  has  made  to  restore  human  na- 
ture from  the  grave. 

That  moral  evil  must  be  incapable  of  annihila- 
ting any  part  of  the  substance  of  man,  must  be  evi- 
dent from  this  consideration,  moral  evil  is  not  God* 
And  certain  it  is,  that  nothing  less  than  infinite,  can 
cause  that  which  is  matter  to  become  no  matter,  or 
cause  that  which,  is  spirit  to  cease  to  be  spirit ;  for 
in  these  two  substances  the  whole  of  man  consists. 
Moral  evil,  therefore,  whatever  may  be  its  nature,' 
cannot  annihilate  any  substance.  And  as  moral 
evil  is  incapable  of  annihilating  any  substance,  so, 
by  the  same  reasoning,  it  will  appear  equally  ab- 


50  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IL 

surd  for  us  to  suppose  that  death  possesses  any 
such  power.  For  as  death'  is  the  offspring  of  moral 
evil,  and  since  nothing  can  communicate  what  it 
has  not,  it  will  involve  a  contradiction  to  suppose, 
that  moral  evil  has  communicated  to  death  an  anni- 
hilating power  which  it  did  not  possess  itself.  It 
therefore  follows,  that  neither  moral  evil  nor  death 
can  possibly  annihilate  any  substance,  because  nei- 
ther the  former  nor  the  latter  is  infinite  ;  and  certain 
it  is,  that  nothing  less  than  infinite  can  destroy  any 
given  substance,  which  nothing  less  than  infinite 
could  create. 

But  how  impossible  soever  it  may  appear,  that 
death  should  annihilate  any  given  substance,  yet, 
when  we  apply  its  influences  to  compounded  bodies, 
the  whole  scene  assumes  a  different  aspect.     The 
composition  of  a  being  is  not  the  substance  of  that 
being;  nay,  the  composition  may  be  totally  destroy- 
ed, while  the  component  parts  remain  uninjured 
and  entire.     Thp  influence  of  moral  evil  may  there- 
fore extend  to  the  composition  of  the  body,  with- 
out affecting  the  substance  of  it.     Thus  death  may 
destroy  the  modification  of  the  body,  while  the  parts   i 
themselves  remain  immoveable   in    their  own  na-   ' 
tures,  beyond  the  reach  of  injury  and  decay.     The  j 
same  power  which  moral  evil  has  to  destroy  the  in-  j 
timate  connection  between  soul  and  body,  most  \ 
be  equally  capable   of  dissolving  the   constituent  i 
parts,  of  which  our  bodies  are  composed.     And  by  • 
secretly  operating,  in  its  natural  effects,  upon  the 
whole  mass,    it  maj^estroy  the  adhesion  of  the 
parts,  and  finally  reduce  to  its  primitive  state,  that 


Chap.  II.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  51 

body  which  was  originally  formed  from  the  dust  of 
the  earth.  But  these  changes  can  only  affect  the 
modification  of  body,  and  the  arrangement  of  it?i 
constituent  parts.  The  substance  itself  is  not  af- 
fected  by  these  changes ;  it  must  still  continue  to 
retain  the  identity  of  its  nature,  and  exist  at  an  in- 
finite distance  from  the  reach  of  death. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  said  that,  "  since  moral  evil 
has  only  a  relative  existence,  we  can  have  no  concep- 
tion  how  it  can  produce  those  effects  which  shall 
finally  terminate  in  the  separation  of  the  component 
*  parts  of  the  body."  That  we  cannot  comprehend 
the  physical  manner  of  its  operation,  I  most  readily 
admit.  Neither,  I  must  contend,  can  we  compre- 
hend how  these  parts  were  previously  united  which 
death  dissolves ;  nor  do  we  know  how  moral  evil 
can  accomplish  that  separation  which  takes  place 
between  body  and  soul.  We  know  not,  indeed, 
how  moral  evil  could  extend  its  influence  over  the 
immaterial  part,  so  as  to  contaminate  and  debase 
it ;  nor  can  we  know  why  it  should  be  capable  of 
alienating  the  soul  fropi  God,  any  more  than  we 
can  comprehend  why  it  should  expose  our  bodies 
to  disease  and  affliction  in  time,  and  our  souls  to 
endless  misery  beyond  the  grave.  In  all  these  cases, 
the  facts  themselves  are  unquestionably  certain ; 
while  the  modes  of  action  are  incomprehensible, 
and  the  physical  process  in  each  case  seems  to  be 
alike  unknown. 

But,  since  from   the   most  decisive   reasonings, 
and  most  unquestionable  authoritv  ;  since  from  thai 


a        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  11. 

knowledge  which  we  have  of  the  nature  and  attri- 
butes of  God  ;  of  the  primeval  state  of  man,  and  of 
the  analogy  of  nature  ;  it  must  be  admitted,  that 
death  could  originally  have  had  no  existence  in  the 
works  of  God ;  we  are  furnished  with  every  proof 
which  the  nature  of  the  subject  can  admit,  that 
death,  which  is  a  natural  evil,  is  an  effect  which 
can  result  from  no  other  cause  than  moral  evil ;  and 
to  attribute,  either  death,  or  that  consequent  disso^ 
lution  which  the  body  undergoes,  to  any  other,  is  to 
break  down  all  distinctions  between  right  and  wrong, 
between  good  and  evil,  and  to  darken  with  impen- 
etrable shadows  every  principle  of  moral  justice. 
Thus,  then,  since  no  other  cause  can  be  presumed 
to  exist,  except  moral  eviU  to  which  we  can,  con- 
sistently with  justice  and  truth,  attribute  the  aliena- 
tion of  the  soul  fi  om  God,  its  contamination  with 
guilt,  its  separation  from  the  body,  and  finally  the 
diSrunion  of  all  the  bodily  parts  ;  the  fact  presses  it- 
self upon  us  with  an  evidence  more  imperious  than 
mere  probability  can  afford ;  and  we  have  all  the 
assurance,  which  the  subject  can  encourage  us  to 
expect,  that  moi\d  evil  is  the  cause  ol  death. 

It  was  admitted  in  the  preceding  section,  that, 
siince  matter  has  been  divided  mto  those  elements 
with  which  we  are  encircled  ;  all  particles  taken 
from  either,  have  in  themselves  a  native  tendency 
to  repair  or  fill  up  their  respective  abodes.  It  was 
also  admitted,  that  the  body  of  Adam  had  been 
composed  of  matter  after  being  thus  divided ;  and  at 
the  same  time  it  was  contended,  that  an  adhesive 
oQwcr  lodged  in  the  compounded  body,  pr?..ierved 


Chap.  II.1  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  53 

its  equilibrium,  and  counteracted  that  innate  ten- 
dency which  the  parts  of  all  compounded  bodies 
possess.  But  the  atmosphere,  it  was  presunied,  by 
its  dissolvent  qualities,  tended  to  destroy  that  adhe- 
sive power,  which  had  been  deemed  so  necessary 
to  the  preservation  of  the  human  body  ;  because 
this  body  had  been  compounded  of  parts.  Thi§ 
circumstance  conducted  us  to  the  tree  of  life ^  which 
God  had  planted  in  the  terrestrial  paradise  ;  the 
fruit  of  which,  man,  after  he  had  violated  the  com- 
mand of  his  Creator,  was  forbidden  to  taste,  lest, 
by  eating,  he  should  live  for  ever.  And  hence  the 
conclusion  became  inevitable  ;  namely,  that  AU 
mighty  Power  selected  this  tree  of  life  as  an  instru-- 
mental  medium,  through  which  he  secured  the  im- 
mortality of  that  body,  which,  by  being  formed  of 
parts,  had  a  natural  tendency  to  dissolution. 

Now,  since  this  sacred  tree  has  been  planted  in 
the  garden  of  Eden,  and  was  continued  there 
until  moral  evil  entered  into  the  world ;  and  was 
placed  beyond  the  reach  of  man  as  soon  as  he  had 
transgressed  the  commands  of  God ;  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  human  body  became  an  inevitable  conse- 
quence of  its  removal.  For,  since  all  the  atoms  of 
compounded  bodies  are  removed  from  their  primitive 
elements,  while  they  hold  their  stations  in  the  body 
modified  ;  they  can  only  remain  in  their  peculiarly 
modified  state,  through  that  power  of  adhesion  which 
connects  the  parts.  The  instant,  therefore,  that  this 
adhesive  power  relaxes  in  its  energy,  the  natural 
tendency  of  the  particles  begins  to  act ;  and  in  pro- 
portion as  this  adhesive  power  becomes  weakened, 


54        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  II. 

progressive  dissolution  prevails,  till  the  adhesive 
power  being  entirely  destroyed,  consigns  over  the 
ccmpounded  b.)dy  to  that  complete  dissolution 
which  is  consequent  on  death. 

The  removal  of  the  tree  of  life^  must,  without  all 
douI)t,  have  been  an  act  of  God,  in  which  nothing 
besides  could  have  been  the  efficient  cause.  But,  al- 
though G  >d,  by  his  own  will  and  power,  placed  this 
tree  beyond  the  reach  of  man,  the  moral  cause  of 
that  exertion  of  power  must  have  been  7noral  evil. 
And,  by  thus  admitting  moral  evil  to  have  so  altered 
the  state  of  things,  as  to  cause  that  exertion  of  the 
divine  power  to  remove  the  tree  of  life,  we  may 
make  moral  evil  to  be  the  primary  cause  of  the  dis- 
solution of  the  body,  without  even  obliging  ourselves 
to  admit  the  necessity  of  moral  evil,  immediately  act- 
ing upon  it,  to  produce  that  effect  which  we  behold. 

But,  even  admitting  that  '<  if  moral  evil  be  the 
cause  of  dissolution,  it  must  have  an  immediate  ac- 
tion upon  the  body,"  as  some  contend  ;  I  am  so  far 
from  conceiving  that  the  remark  contains  any  insu- 
perable difficulty,  since  the  whole  analogy  of  nature 
appears  to  furnish  us  with  instances,  in  which  the 
action  of  spirit  influences  matter,  though  the  manner 
of  its  operations  are  totally  unknown.  If,  there- 
fore, the  action  of  spirit  influence  matter  in  the  or- 
dinary  course  of  nature,  there  surely  can  be  nothing 
irrational  in  presuming,  that  moral  evil  may  so  far 
extend  its  influence  to  man,  as  to  dissolve  the  whole 
of  our  corporeal  frame. 

If  spirit  operates  upon  matter,  which  is  visible 
from  the  whole  course  of  human  actions,  it  must  be 


Chap.  II.]       OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  $s 

by  some  kind  of  motion  or  modification  of  action, 
there  being  no  other  way  in  which  we  can  conceive 
the  fact  to  be  possible.  Now,  it  is  not  the  vice  or 
the  virtue  of  any  given  action  in  which  the  power  of '^ 
actuation  resides ;  but  in  the  action  itself,  abstract- 
edly considered,  with  which  vice  and  virtue  have 
little  or  no  connection.  It  is  true,  that  all  moral 
actions  must  partake  either  of  vice  or  virtue ;  and 
the  effects  which  they  produce  will  be  perfectly  an- 
alogous to  their  nature ;  but  since  it  is  the  action  it- 
self of  which  we  speak,  in  its  relation  to  its  cause, 
the  object  must  be  physically  the  same,  whether  it 
partake  of  vice  or  virtue,  or  be  perfectly  indifferent 
to  both.  For,  though  moral  evil  be  nothing  more,  in 
itself,  than  the  action  of  spirit  unrighteously  directed, 
yet  still  it  is  in  itself  as  much  an  action,  as  if  neither 
vice  nor  virtue  had  ever  applied  to  moral  agents. 
Thus  then,  even  admitting  moral  evil  to  extend  its 
influence  immediately  to  the  human  body,  we  feel 
no  more  difficulty  in  accounting  for  its  dissolution, 
than  in  accounting  for  those  various  actions  which 
mark  human  life.  And  it  becomes  perfectly  com- 
prehensible,  without  obliging  us  to  have  recourse  to 
that  miraculous  power,  to  which,  abstractedly  from 
moral  evil,  we  should  be  obliged  to  appeal. 

But,  when,  from  this  view  of  the  immediate  in- 
fluence of  moral  evil  operating  upon  our  bodies,  we 
turn  our  thoughts  to  that  medium  through  which 
God  has  thought  proper  to  act,  namely,  by  the  re- 
moval of  the  tree  of  life,  the  case  assumes  a  more 
unquestionable  aspect.  Heiie  we  view  the  final  dis- 
solution of  the  human  body,  as  the  necessary  result 


56  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap  ll. 

of  things  in  ihe  present  state  of  the  world  ;  and  the 
evidence  which  supported  the  fact,  presses  itself  up- 
on us  with  an  energy  which  can  hardly  fail  to  pro- 
duce conviction. 

It  may  indeed  be  said,  that  "  by  mtroducing  the 
removal  of  the  tree  of  life,  as  the  cause  of  our  disso- 
lution, we  gave  a  discharge  to  moral  evil ;"  but  this 
objection  must  surely  be  founded  in  mistake.  It 
has  been  already  proved,  that  God  is  unchangeable 
in  all  his  ways  ;  and,  as  all  possible  perfection  is  es- 
sential  to  his  nature,  he  must  have  an  invariable  at- 
tachment to  purity,  and  an  invariable  aversion  from 
vice  of  every  kind.  He  placed  the  tree  of  life  in  the 
garden  for  the  preservation  of  holy  bei?igs,  but  for 
no  other.  But,  as  in  the  instant  when  moral  evil 
entered  into  the  world,  holiness  departed  from  hu- 
man nature ;  so,  consequently,  the  beings  whom 
God  had  promised  to  support  were  no  where  to 
be  found. 

If  then,  the  tree  of  life  had  been  permitted  to 
continue,  after  primeval  rectitude  had  departed  from 
man,  God  must  have  been  mutable,  in  suffering 
this  tree  to  be  applied  to  purposes  to  which  his  pro- 
mises did  not  extend.  And  this  mutability,  in  his 
actions,  must  have  annihilated  an  essential  property 
of  his  nature,  while  it  must  have  added  to  the  cala- 
mities  of  life,  by  perpetuating  the  miseries  of  man. 
The  perpetuity  of  being  in  a  state  checquered  with 
good  and  evil,  must  have  perpetuated  evil  as  well 
as  good ;  and  that  action  which  perpetuates  evil, 
when  with  justice  it  can  be  omitted,  must  be  too 
nearly  ^Uied  to  injustice  to  be  applicable  to  God. 


Chap.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  57 

Perhaps  the  atmosphere  which  we  now  respire, 
and  that  food  from  which  we  derive  our  daily  nou- 
rishment, while  they  invigorate  for  a  moment,  have 
withiil  them  a  latent  power  to  injure  and  destroy  our 
frame,  and  unite  in  contributing  towards  the  disso- 
lution of  that  body,   which  they   now  nourish  and 
support.     But,  when   the  present  state   of  things 
shall  be  swept  aside ;  when  a  new  sera  shall  com- 
mence, when  the  face  of  nature  shall  be  renovated, 
and  the  human  body  restored  from  the  grave,  shall 
inherit  another,  and  more  favourable  clime ;  then 
shall  we  be  removed  from  these  impediments,  and 
placed  beyond  the  reach  of  these  "  injurious  assist- 
ances,'* which  we  now  derive  from  respiration  and  i 
food,  our  bodies  will  feel  no  internal  tendencies  to 
dissolution ;  and,  by  being  removed  from  all  exter- 
nal causes  of  decay,  the  parts  of  which  they  will  be 
composed  shall  adhere  for  ever. 
-  Whether,  in  the  earliest  stage  of  human  existence, 
the  atmosphere  and  food  of  which  we  speak,  were 
precisely  the  same  as  they  are  now,  or  whether  they 
have  undergone  a  change,  are  points  not  for  me  to 
decide.     It  seems  most  probable,  that,  like  other 
parts  of  degenerated  nature,   they  have  sustained 
some  injury ;  and  the  atmosphere,  like  the  earth, 
may  have   been  cursed  for  the  sake  of  man.     It, 
however  still  retains  a  small  portion  of  its  primitive 
salubrity  ;  and  that  portion  which  it  possesses  may 
lead  us  to  conjecture  what  its  state  must  have  been 
in  those  happy  days,  when  moral  evil  was  unknown. 
Its  influences  at  present  seem  alike   extended  to  all 
the  visible  parts  of  the  creation  with  which  we  arc 


St  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECriON    [Chap.  II. 

acquainted  ;  so  that  few  things  can  ultimately  resist 
it,  any  more  than  they  can  survive  the  ravages  of 
time.  The  life  of  man  is  now  reduced  to  little  more 
than  half  a  century,  beyond  which  not  all  the  effi- 
cacy  of  medical  art  can  make  human  nature  to  sur- 
ViVe ;  our  bodies  then  retire  into  those  peaceful 
mansions,  where  they  insensibly  realize  these  chan» 
ges,  and  undergo  these  operations  which  now,  only 
engross  our  thoughts. 

It  may  perhaps,  be  asserted,  that  *'  if  all  the  parts 
of  compounded  bodies  have  a  natural  tendency  to 
seek  their  elementary  abodes ;  and  if  those  bodies 
will  be  thus  compoundid  which  shall  survive  the 
grave,  we  can  have  no  satisfactory  assurance  that 
ihey  shall  not  hereafter  be  exposed  to  dissolution* 
and  decay."  In  reply  to  this  objection,  I  observe, 
Ave  have  no  reason  to  believe  that  this  tendency  to 
dissolution  which  is  now  found  in  bodies,  com- 
pounded of  diiferent  elements,  will  exist  beyond  the 
grave.  Whether,  indeed,  those  elements  into  which 
all  matter  is  now  divided,  and  of  which  our  present 
and  future  bodies  are,  and  will  be  composed,  and 
through  which  this  tendency  has  been  called  into 
existence,  will  survive*  hereafter,  or  be  ultimately 
resolved  into  their  original  principles,  I  take  not 
upon  me  to  say  ;  but,  in  either  case,  it  will  not  fol- 
low that  this  tendency  shall  subsist  in  a  future  state. 

If,  in  a  future  state,  those  elements  into  which 
matter  is  now  divided,  be  resolved  into  their  original 
principles,  it  will  clearly  follow,  that  the  tendency 
to  dissolution,  which  now  exists  in  compounded 
bcdics,  and  which  results  from  their  distinct  exist- 


Chap.  II.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  59 

ence,  must  necessarily  disappear ;  in^  consequence 
of  which,  the  body,  though  compounded  of  parts, 
will  be  capable  of  supporting  itself  without  external 
aid,  ,  For,  in  this  case,  the  distinct  atoms,  having 
no  distinct  centres  to  which  they  shall  respectively 
tend,  must  continue  to  preserve  those  stations,  in 
which,  at  the  resurrection,  they  shall  be  fixed. 

The  distinct  elements,  into  which  matter  is  new 
divided,  have  probably  been  thus  divided  for  pur- 
poses subservient  to  creation,  as  we  well  know  that 
this  di\nsion  is  essentially  necessary  to  man  in  his 
present  terrestrial  condition ;  and  consequently, 
these  divisions  may  have  no  existence  in  any  other 
state.  For,  when  this  condition  of  man  shall  be 
done  away,  and  the  present  state  of  creation  shall  be 
no  more,  the  elements  may  subside  with  the  occa- 
sion of  their  being.  And,  should  they  be  lost  in 
one  general  form  of  indiscriminate  matter,  it  plainly 
follows,  that  all  propensity  to  dissolution  must  be 
for  ever  excluded,  even  from  compounded  bodies, 
and  totally  done  away. 

There  can  15e  no  doubt  that  our  future  bodies 
will  be  formed  of  matter,  and  of  that  matter  which 
now  forms  their  essential  parts.  But,  though  the 
matter  itself  shall  be  retained,  the  elementary  divi- 
sions may  nevertheless  be  totally  abolished,  and  may 
mingle  in  one  common  mass,  for  which  we  want  a 
name.  And,  since  matter  in  its  remote  and  primi- 
tive state,  while  undivided  into  elements,  could  have 
had  no  tendency  to  dissolution,  whatever  the  pecu» 
liarity  of  the  modification  of  any  portion  thereof 
might  have  been  ;  so  we  may  reasonably  infer,  that 


6D  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  II. 

the  bod}^  which  shall  survive  the  grave,  though 
composed  of  separable  parts,  if  constituted  in  a  si- 
milar manner,  must  be  unaffected  by  all  external 
impulses,  and,  consequently,  must  continue  for  ever. 
And,  therefore,  the  mere  compound  of  any  given 
body,  under  these  circumstances,  cannot  in  itself  be 
adduced  as  an  argument  against  the  perpetuity  of  its 
being,  when  matter  itself  shall  be  divested  of  those 
tendencies,  which  must  have  originated  either  in  a 
peculiarity  of  local  circumstances,  or  in  external 
causes,  -Nvhich  must  be  destroyed.  And,  hence  it 
follows  also,  that  all  those  arguments  which  may  be 
drawn  from  the  compounded  state  of  our  future 
bodies,  to  invalidate  our  belief  in  their  immortality, 
must  necessarily  appear  fallacious. 

In  addition  to  the  circumstances,  which  have  been 
stated  in  the  preceding  paragraphs,  the  following 
remarks  ought  not  to  be  omitted.  The  adhesive 
parts  of  any  compounded  body,  which  is  purely  ma- 
terial, which  our  future  bodies  must  be,  are  as 
much  matter  as  the  parts  which  are  cemented  by 
this  adhesion.  And  we  have  no  more  reason  to  be- 
lieve, that  a  tendency  to  dissolution  can  reside  in 
the  adhesive  particles,  than  in  those  which  are  pre- 
sumed to  be  more  solid  and  compact  ;  and,  there- 
fore, an  adhesive  particle,  placed  in  an  adhesive 
state,  must  preserve  its  station  as  much  so  as  one 
that  is  supported  by  that  adhesion.  For,  where 
any  given  portion  of  matter,  which  is  in  itself  per- 
fectly inert,  is  removed  from  all  external  influence 
and  impulse,  it  cannot  possibly  have  any  tendency 
to  remove  from  that  station  in  which  it  was  first 


Chap.  II.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  61 

placed.  It  must  preserve  its  native  inertness  the 
moment  after  it  was  created,  it  must  be  the  same 
the  moment  following,  and  consequently  must  c6n- 
tinue  in  that  state  for  ever.  The  removal  of  all  ex- 
ternal impulses  and  influence  must  place  particles, 
which  are  inert,  beyond  the  reach  of  change  ;  and 
the  same  action,  which  established  their  first  condi- 
tion, must  continue  to  make  that  condition  perma- 
nent; and,  under  these  circumstances,  they  must 
retain  their  adhesive  properties  and  established  situ- 
ations for  ever. 

Thus  far  the  argument  will  hold  good,  if  we  pre- 
sume that  all  matter  is  alike  indifferent  to  motion 
and  rest.  But  if,  on  the  contrary,  we  presume 
that  all  matter  possesses  a  certain  power,  by  which 
it  resists  all  change  of  place,  as  many  have  strongly 
contended,  it  will  be  considerably  strengthened  and 
confirmed.  For,  if  all  matter  be  capable  of  resist- 
ing more  or  less  all  changes  of  situation,  then  noth- 
ing but  external  impulse  can  remove  any  given  par- 
ticle from  its  station ;  and  such  must  be  the  nature 
of  that  impulse,  that  it  must  be  capable  of  overcom. 
ing  that  resistance  which  the  given  portion  of  mat- 
ter makes  in  proportion  to  its  magnitude  or  solid 
contents.  What;  the  precise  quantity,  or  numerical 
particles  of  matter  may  be,  of  which  our  future 
bodies  shall  be  composed,  is  a  question  foreign  to 
the  present  inquiry.  For  certain  it  is,  that  neither 
specific  quantity,  nor  numerical  identity,  can  affect 
the  abstract  nature  of  compounded  bodies.  But, 
admitting  the  principles  to  be  genuine  on  which  I 
have  proceeded,  namely,  that  all  matter  shall  be  re  • 


62         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  II. 

duced  to  its  original  state ;  then,  when  the  elements 
shall  melt  wilh  Jervent  heat ^  the  atmosphere  must 
be  destroyed ;  then  each  particle  shall  preserve  its 
station  in  our  future  bodies,  and  all  the  parts,  of 
which  they  shall  be  composed,  will  adhere  indisso- 
hibly  for  ever. 

Hithe.to,  we  have  surveyed  but  one  side  of  the 
case  which  was  supposed.  Wc  have  thus  far  pre- 
sumed in  that  future  state,  which  we  bhall  inherit, 
that  particles  taken  from  diflerent  elements  will 
110  longer  seek  distinct  abodes  ;  but  that,  equally 
fixed  in  their  respective  stations,  each  particle  shall 
be  at  rest ;  and  that  having  no  tendency  to  wander 
from  its  station,  in  which  it  has  been  placed,  the 
parts  of  our  future  bodies  must  adhere  to  each  other 
through  eternity.  Such  are  the  consequences  which 
will  result,  upon  a  presumption  that  the  discrimina- 
tion of  elements  shall  be  done  away. 

But,  if  on  the  contrary,  we  presume  that  this  dis. 
crimination  of  elements  shall  not  be  totally  abol- 
ished as  we  have  presumed ;  tmd  that  they  shall 
cot  be  blended  tog(  ther,  as  in  the  original  state  of 
things,  before  they  had  their  distinct  natures  assign- 
ed them;  yet  we  cannot  avoid  concluding,  that,  so 
far  shall  the  face  of  things  be  changed,  that  they  shall 
be  deprived  of  their  hostile  influence  towards  one 
another,  and  happily  concur  in  one  harmonious  ope- 
ration. Those  bodies,  whichhave  slept  for  ages  in 
the  dust  of  the  earth,  awakened  by  the  voice  of  the 
archangel,  and  the  trump  of  God,  while  the  world 
and  all  its  appendages  are  consumed  with  devouring 
fire,  will  undoubtedly  retire  beyond  the  reach  of  the 


Chap.  II.]  ■      OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  63 

general  conflagration,  and,  entering  immediately 
into  their  eternal  states,  will  live  in  regions  where 
the  atmosphere  can  extend  no  influence,  and  where 
gravitation  can  never  reach. 

The  destruction  of  the  world  by  fire  must  anni- 
hilate that  common  centre  to  which  our  bodies  now 
adhere,  and  constantly  tend ;  and,  consequently, 
gravitation  must  necessarily  be  destroyed.  This 
circumstance  must  counteract  the  tendency,  which 
the  grosser  particles  might  have  to  cleave  to  th«ir 
terrestrial  confine,  even  though  the  atmosphere 
should  remain,  and  though,  in  point  of  space,  the 
renovated  body  shall  be  lodged  within  the  sphere  of 
its  present  attractive  influence.  But  these  points 
W'll  rise  into  consideration  in  some  subsequent 
chapter,  and  to  that  chapter  we  must  refer  fur  the 
discussion.  It  is  sufficient  in  the  present  case,  that 
we  have  seen  the  introduction  of  moral  evil  into 
the  world,  together  with  its  effects  and  consequen- 
ces;  and,  that  through  the  removal  of  the  ^r^e  of 
life,  death  has  been  entailed  on  all  of  woman  born. 
Thus,  b]/  the  disobedience  of  one  man  sin  has  enter- 
ed into  the  ivorld^  and  death  by  sin,  and  thus  has 
death  passed  upon  all  men,  because  all  have  sinned 
end  come  short  of  the  glory  of  Godj  and  hence  wc 
are  assured  that  the  zvages  of  si7i  is  death* 


64  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION 


CHAPTER  III. 

ON  TEE  ANNIHILATION  OF  MORAL  EVIL,  CONSID- 
ERED SEPARATELY,  AND  IN  CONNECTION 
WITH  ITS  CAUSES,  EFFECTS,  AND  CONSE(^UEN- 
CES.  THE  RESULT  HIGHLY  FAVOURABLE  TO 
THE  RESURRECTION  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY 
FROM    THE    GRAVE. 

SECTION  I. 

If  moral  evil  shall  be  annihilated^  the  resurrectiot: 
of  the  human  body  may  be  presumed  to  be  a  iieces- 
sary  effect, 

W  HEN  we  turn  from  those  subjects,  which  have 
engrossed  our  thoughts  in  the  preceding  parts  of 
this  work  to  the  annihihition  of  moral  evil,  and  to 
those  effects  which  must  result  therefrom,  the  mind 
is  presented  with  a  scene  which  is  totally  distinct, 
in  its  nature,  from  those  which  we  have  hitherto 
surveyed,  and  we  enter  upon  a  mode  of  argumenta- 
tion which  is  entirely  new. 

In  the  foregoing  parts  we  have  seen  the  primeval 
state  of  man,  and  v/e  have  contemplated  the  fatal 
cftects  which  have  resulted  from  the  introduction  of 
moral  evil  into  the  world.  We  have  also  seen,  that 
had  it  not  been  for  moral  evil,  death  would  have 
been  unknown,  together  with  those  natural  effects 
which  follow  upon  the  body,   when  in  a  state  of 


Sec.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  es 

separation  from  the  soul.  And  it  is  evident  from 
those  views  which  we  have  taken  of  the  whole  sub- 
ject in  general,  and  from  those  proofs  which  have 
been  adduced  in  favour  of  the  facts ;  that  in  what 
light  soever  death  may  be  surveyed,  it  can  only  be 
considered  as  acting  in  subordination  to  moral  evil. 
And  therefore,  moral  evil  must  be  considered  by  us 
as  the  primary  cause  of  all  the  degradation,  which 
human  nature  in  this  probationary  state  of  exile,  is 
destined  to  undergo. 

That  the  human  soul  must  survive  the  grave,  is 
a  truth  which  is  generally  admitted,  and  may  be 
proved ;  it  must  therefore  exist  in  a  state  of  consci- 
ousness throughout  eternity.  The  sensations,  to 
which  we  must  submit  hereafter,  must  be  either 
pleasant  or  painful ;  for,  into  no  other  forms  can  con- 
sciousness be  resolved.  This,  therefore,  brings  im- 
mediately to  our  view  a  state  of  future  punishments 
and  rewards. 

To  investigate  the  nature  of  those  punishments 
and  rewards,  which  await  the  guilty  and  the  righte- 
ous, when  this  life  shall  be  lost  and  swallowed  up  in 
another ;  is  remote  from  my  design.  The  eviden- 
ces which  must  support  these  facts  may  be  drawn 
from  the  nature  and  attributes  of  God,  when  consi- 
dered in  connection  with  vice  and  virtue  ;  so  that 
the  moral  attributes  of  the  Deity  co-operate  with  his 
immutability,  to  ensure  a  state  of  retribution  in  an- 
other life.  It  will  be  sufficient  for  my  present  pur- 
pose, to  presume  that  a  state  of  felicity  awaits  the 
souls  of  the  righteous,  and  from  this  groimd  will 


6$  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  Ut 

arise  some  important  evidence,  that  all  moral  evil 
must  be  done  away  from  the  human  soul,  before  it 
can  possibly  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God, 

There  are  few  abstfact  truths,  which  will  admit 
of  more  satisfactory  evidence  than  this,  that  two 
natural  extremes  cannot  possibly  meet  together. 
The  terms  themselves  presume  a  situation,  which 
never  can  be  overcome  ;  and  even  if  it  were  allowed 
possible  that  a  union  could  be  accomplished,  they 
would  be  no  long;er  those  extremes  which  are  pre- 
sumed by  the  ^supposition.  In  short,  the  feelings 
of  human  nature,  are  strong  indications  in  fovour 
of  a  future  state  ;  and  the  vices  which  po  unpunish- 
ed, and  the  virtues  which  go  unrewarded  here,  are 
powerful  arguments  to  prove  it  sure.  The  hopes 
and  fears  which  inhabit  the  human  bosom,  plainly 
point  to  distinct  abodes ;  and  ensure  those  rewards 
and  punishments,  which  are  strictly  analogous  to 
virtue  and  vice,  and  to  the  total  sum  and  aggregate 
nature  of  human  actions  here  below. 

Whatever  the  abstract  nature  of  that  happiness 
may  be,  v.'hich  we  hope  to  enjoy  beyond  the  grave, 
it  is  certain  that  it  must  be  derived  from  God  ;  his 
perfections  being  the  only  fountain  of  excellence  to 
which  all  created  beings  must  apply ;  for  equally 
certain  it  is,  that  in  him  ive  live^  and  mote,  and  have 
OUT  being.  And  since  God,  from  his  exalted  and 
immutable  perfections  can  communicate  that  only, 
which  is  congenial  to  his  nature,  we  cannot  avoid 
concluding,  that  there  must  be  an  agreement  be- 
tween him  who  confers,  and  the  object  which  re-' 
ceives  the  felicity  conferred.     For,  since  the  felicity 


Scdt.  I.l  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  6T 

which  is  conferred  by  God  must  be  perfectly  con. 
sistent  with  his  nature  ;  it  can  only  find  repose  in 
that  bosom  which  has  received  the  impression  of 
the  divine  image.  Without  this  likeness,  there  can 
be  no  union ;  where  there  is  no  union,  there  can 
be  no  concord  ;  and  where  there  is  no  concord,* 
there  must  be  infelicity  and  woe. 

But,  since  God  is  and  must  be  necessarily  devoid 
of  all  moral  evil ;  and,  since  man  in  his  present  con- 
dition is  under  its  influence  and  dominion  ;  the  con- 
sequence is  inevitable,  that  an  agreement  under 
these  circumstances  can  have  no  existence.  It 
must  therefore  follow,  that  either  God  or  man  must 
change  in  nature,  before  they  can  possibly  meet  to- 
gether. For  certain  it  is,  that  those  gratifications 
which  are  pleasing  to  man,  in  his  present  state,  are 
such  as  Qod  cannot  possibly  bestow,  through  the 
holiness  and  perfections  of  his  nature  ;  while  it  is 
equally  certain,  that  even  the  glories  of  heaven  can 
communicate  no  felicity  to  man,  through  the  cor- 
ruptions and  depravity  which  reign  in  the  human 
heart.  And  hence  the  necessity  of  a  radical  change 
before  man  can  derive  felicity  from  God. 

Now,  since  God  is  both  immutable  and  perfect, 
it  is  evident  that  he  can  neither  change,  nor  include 
moral  evil  in  his  nature ;  and,  since  heaven  is  a 
place  of  happiness,  to  which  the  souls  of  the  righte- 
ous shall  be  admitted  ;  and  since  felicity,  under  ex- 
isting circumstances,  cannot  be  communicated  ;  the 
inevitable  consequence  is,  that  man  must  undergo 
a  change.     As  therefore,  moral  evil  is  that,  which 


61        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  Ill, 

has  sunk  man  beneath  his  primitive  rank  in  the 
scale  of  created  excellency  ;  separated  him  from 
God,  and  thereby  rendered  him  unlit  for  that  felici- 
ty which  he  hopes  to  enjoy  hereafver  ;  so,  the  re- 
^loval  of  moral  evil  must  restore  him  to  his  primi- 
tive dignity  and  native  grandeur  ;  and  render  him 
meet  to  be  a  partaker  of  that  feUcity,  which  the  Al- 
mighty will  confer  in  a  future  world.  Hence  then 
the  certainty  of  future  rewards  demonstrates  the  ne- 
cessity and  certainty,  that,  from  those  who  are  ad- 
mitted to  glory y  all  moral  evil  must  be  done  away. 

If  man,  under  the  influence  of  moral  evil,  with 
all  his  passions  and  propensities  unsubdued,  were 
to  be  admitted  into  heaven,  even  heaven  itself  could 
confer  upon  him  no  felicity. 

«  The  mind  is  its  own  place,  and  of  itself 
Can  make  a  heaven  of  hell,  a  hell  of  heaven.'* 

For,  as  an  agreement  between  the  giver  of  happi, 
ness,  and  the  receiver  of  it,  must  be  necessary  in 
order,  to  its  pure  enjoyment ;  a  previous  qualifica- 
tion must  be  admitted,  and  must  be  attained.  But 
as  the  influence  of  moral  evil,  is,  under  this  consid. 
eration,  presumed  to  be  retained,  no  such  qualifi- 
cation can  be  possessed  ;  and  consequently,  no  feli- 
city can  be  enjoyed.  As  therefore,  ftlicity  is  to  be 
communicated  in  that  celestial  region,  the  necessary 
qualification  for  its  possession  must  be  obtained ; 
and  as  this  cannot  be  where  moral  evil  holds  domin- 
ion, the  plain  consequence  is,  that  7noral  evil  must 
be  done  azvai/. 


Sect.  1.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  69 

Man,  in  no  station  or  mode  of  existence,  can  en- 
joy felicities  which  he  has  no  appetites  to  relish. 
Neither,  can  the  angry,  the  hostile  and  jarring  dispo- 
sitions of  human  nature,  obtain  indulgence  from 
such  objects  as  heaven  with  all  its  glories  can  afford. 
For,  could  we  conceive,  that  these  unholy  disposi- 
tions could  receive  gratification  in  the  abodes  of 
bliss ;  we  must  conceive  that  the  most  distant  ex- 
tremes must  blend  together ;  a  supposition  as  repug- 
nant to  our  reason,  as  the  possibility  of  confound- 
ing the  north  and  south  poles  of  the  globe.  As 
therefore,  the  felicities  of  heaven  can  never  be  enjoy- 
ed where  moral  evil  holds  dominion,  because 
they  are  extremes  which  can  never  meet  together  ; 
and,  as  felicity  must  be  communicated  to  those  who 
shall  inherit  heaven ;  it  evidently  follows,  that  moral 
evil  must  be  annihilated  in  the  human  soul,  before 
it  can  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God. 

If  heaven,  under  circumstances  which  have  been 
presumed,  can  yield  felicity  to  man ;  it  must  afford 
the  means  of  intoxication  to  the  intemperate,  wealth 
to  the  miser,  and  licentious  pleasures  to  the  debau- 
chee ;  it  must  afford  fields  of  blood  to  the  warrior, 
visionary  aggrandisement  to  the  ambitious,  and 
hold  out  scenes  of  temptation  to  the  plunderers  of 
mankind ;  it  must  even  gratify  the  most  brutal  and 
savage  dispositions  of  human  nature.  Under  such 
views,  what  are  we  to  think  of  its  constitution  ? 
Wherein  can  it  differ  from  this  Aceldama,  this 
**  bedlam  of  tl^e  universe"  which  we  inhabit  ?  How 
in  such  a  case,  and  in  such  a  region,  can  virtue  be 


ra  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

rewarded  !  Even  the  vices  which  dishonour  human 
nature,  must  be  presumed  to  hold  eternal  triumph  ; 
and  the  prospect  of  impunity,  must,  even  here  be- 
low, tend  to  sanction,  and  even  dignify  those  actions 
which  disgrace  mankind. 

However  absurd  these  sentiments  may  appear, 
such  must  be  the  state  of  heaven ;  if  moral  evil  can 
be  permitted  to  enter  ;  so  that  even  the  grossness  of 
these  inferences  becomes  an  evidence  in  favour  of 
the  general  conclusion.  For,  as  such  scenes  as  we 
have  inferred,  cannot  possibly  exist  in  heaven ; 
since  virtue  must  be  rewarded  there,  and  since 
nothing  unholy,  nothing  unclean,  nothing  that  ei- 
ther loveth  or  maketh  a  lie,  can  enter  there  ;  we 
are  fully  assured,  that  moral  evil  cannot  inherit 
those  abodes.  The  plain  and  inevitable  consequence 
therefore  is,  that  moral  evil  must  be  destroyed 
and  done  away. 

It  has  been  already  proved,  in  the  preceding 
parts  of  this  volume,  that  the  dissolution  of  the  hu- 
man body,  the  various  calamities  with  which  we 
are  afflicted,  together  with  all  those  natural  evils 
which  harass  and  torment  mankind,  have  been 
occasioned  by  moral  evil.  And,  from  the  proofs 
which  have  been  adduced,  we  have  concluded, 
that,  if  moral  evil  had  not  entered  into  the  world, 
creation  would  have  still  retained  its  prestine  state  ; 
and  consequently,  that  death  itself,  which  is  a  nat- 
ural evil,  would  have  been  totally  unknown.  It 
has  also  been  proved,  in  the  preceding  parts  of  this 
section,  that,  as  a  future  state  of  happiness  awaits 
the  souls  of  the  righteous,  when  they  depart  this 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  71 

life,  in  which  they  will  be  recompensed  for  all  their 
sufferings  here  below  ;  those  qualifications,  which 
are  necessary  for  that  enjoyment,  must  be  previ- 
ously obtained.  And  since  heaven  is  a  state  of  pu- 
rity, which  can  admit  of  no  alloy,  the  necessity  of 
those  qualifications  becomes  conspicuous,  and  en- 
forces the  necessity  that  moral  evil  must  be  de- 
stroyed. 

Can  then,  those  natural  effects,  which  origi- 
nated in  moral  evil,  which  we  have  proved  to  be 
their  primary  cause,  continue  in  existence  when 
moral  evil  shall  have  been  destroyed  ?  Or,  can  any, 
cause  perpetuate  natural  evil  besides  that  cause 
which  primarily  gave  it  birth.  Surely  these  things 
appear  impossible.  For,  if  these  effects  can  conti- 
nue in  existence,  when  that  cause  which  produced 
them  shall  have  been  done  away  ;  they  must  be  ef- 
fects and  not  effects,  at  the  same  time,  whi6h  is  a 
plain  and  palpable  contradiction.  For,  as  the  cause 
of  death  and  dissolution,  is  moral  evil,  and  this 
cause  in  respect  to  all  the  righteous,  must  be  done 
away  ;  it  therefore  follows,  that  if  no  natural  effect 
can  survive  the  cause  which  produced  it,  death  and 
dissolution  must  cease,  and  the  inevitable  conse- 
quence is,  that  the  human  body  must  rise  again  from 
the  grave. 

That  no  cause  but  moral  evil,  could  occasion 
death,  has  been  already  proved,  and  we  can  have 
no  conception  that  the  power,  through  which  it  pro- 
duced these  effects  can  be  capable,  either  of  trans- 
fer or  delegation  ;  much  less  can  we  concieive  that 
this  power  can  be  so  bequeathed  as  to  perpetuate 
these  effects,  when  moral  evil  with  which  alone  it 


72        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  III. 

originated,  and  from  which  it  is  inseparable,  shall 
be  totally  destroyed.  And  where  we  even  to  pre- 
sume it  possible,  that  the  povver  which  perpetuates 
death  could  continue  when  moral  evil  is  destroyed, 
moral  evil  could  no  longer  be  considered  as  its  ex- 
clusive cause.  But,  since  the  reverse  of  this  has 
been  already  proved  ;  and,  since  a  delegation  of  this 
power,  is  a  supposition  replete  with  absurdities ; 
the  conclusion  again  returns  upon  us,  that  when  mo- 
ral ev;l  shall  be  destro3'ed,  all  its  natural  effects 
must  cease ;  and  consequently  that  a  resurrection 
of  the  body  must  take  place. 

If  death,  and  the  dissolution  of  the  human  body, 
(which  are  effects  evidently  produced  by  moral  evil) 
can  remain  in  existence  after  moral   evil  shall  have 
been  destroyed,   it  will  be   impossible  for   us  to 
say  from  what  cause  this  continuance  of  these  ef- 
fects can  flow.     It  cannot  result  from   moral  evil, 
because  this  is  now  destroyed  by  the  supposition  ; 
and  the  notion  of  a   transfer  of  power  to  something 
else  is  too   ridiculous  even  for  serious   refutation. 
And,  since  we  can  no  more  conceive  that  an  effect 
can  continue   without  a  cause,  than  we  can  con- 
ceive it  should  have  originated  without  cause  ;  and, 
since  the  cause  in  which  the  effect  is  presumed  to 
have  originated  is  destroyed,  and  no  transfer  of  pow- 
er  can  possibly  take  place,  through  which  the  co7i- 
tinuance  of  this  effect  can  be  supported,  the  con- 
tinuance itself  vanishes   from   our   sight ;  and  the 
consequence  is,  a  resurrection  of  the  human   body 
from  the  confines  of  death. 

As  the  primary  existence  of  the  cause,  was   ne- 
cessary to  the  primary  production  of  the  effect  j  so, 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  73 

the  continuance  of  the  cause  must  be  necessary  to 
the  continuance  of  the  effect.  For,  could  we  con- 
ceive that  an  effect  could  continue  without  an  ade- 
quate cause  ;  we  must  of  necessity  make  a  contra- 
dictory supposition  ;  we  must  suppose  it  to  be  the 
continuance  of  an  effect,  and  not  the  continuance  of 
that  effect  at  the  same  time,  which  is  absolutely  im- 
possible. As  therefore,  a  contradiction  cannot  be 
admitted,  and  as  no  effect  can  continue  without  an 
adequate  cause  ;  as  the  cause  of  death  is  moral  evil, 
and  this  cause  in  all  the  righteous  must  be  destroy- 
ed ;  the  eflect  must  discontinue  by  a  natural  conse- 
quence, thr'  ugh  the  destruction  of  the  cause,  and 
issue  in  an  event,  w^hich  we  have  already  contem- 
plated ;  namely,  the  resurrection  of  the  human  bo- 
dy  from  the  grave. 

That  death  is  the  effect  of  moral  evil,  has  becti 
already  proved  ;  and  consequently,  that  dissolution 
which  ib  more  immediately  produced  by  death,  must 
be  attributed  to  the  same  primary  cause.  If  there- 
fore, to  presume  that  death  can  continue  in  exist- 
ence when  moral  evil  is  destroyed  be  contradictory, 
to  imagine  that  dissolution  can  survive  the  annihi- 
lation of  death  must  be  equally  absurd,  since,  in 
either  case  we  must  suppose  that  an  effect  survives 
the  cause  on  which  it  is  dependent  for  its 
own  existence.  But,  since  these  suppositions 
are  contradictory  ;  and  impossible  because  contra- 
dictory ;  since  the  certainty  of  future  rewards  en- 
sures the  destruction  of  moral  evil,  and  the  destruc- 
tion of  moral  evil  ensures  the  annihilation  of  death  ; 
so  the  annihilation  of  death  must  ensure  the  anni- 
hilation of  dissolution,  and  the   annihilation  of  dis- 

M 


^4  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

solution  must  cause  human  nature  to  rise  from  the 
abodes  of  death. 

If  dissolution  continue  after  moral  evil  and  death 
shall  have  been  both  destroyed,  it  is  evident  that  it  ^ 
could  not  have  been  produced   by   either,   because     ] 
no  natural  effect  can   survive  its    cause.     But,  this 
conclusion  is  contrary  to  the  proofs  we  have  already 
adduced  ;  and  is  perfectly  irreconcileable  to  the  im- 
mutability and  moral  justice  of  God.     Hence  then, 
the  same  conclusion  returns  again  upon  us,  name- 
ly, that  as  moral  evil  is  the  parent  of  that  death, 
by  which  dissolution  is  more  immediately   produ- 
ced ;  so,  the   removal   of  moral  evil  must  finally 
lead  to  the  destruction  of  dissolution   as  well  as  of 
that  of  death,  and  ultimately  terminate  in  a  resurrec- 
tion.    For,  since  nothing  but  moral  evil  could  pos- 
sibly have  brought  death  into  the  world  ;  the  remo- 
val of  moral  evil  must  necessarily  extinguish  those 
immediate  and  remote  effects  which  ultimately  de- 
pend upon  it  for  their  existence,   and  which  can  be 
supported  in  existence  by  no  other  cause. 

It  may,  perhaps,  to  the  reasoning  which  I  have 
advanced  be  objected  thus.  *'  That  if  moral  evil  be 
the  cau^e  of  death,  and  moral  evil  be  removed  from 
the  righteous  in  the  present  life,  no  necessity  can 
remain  why  death  should  ever  take  place.  "  In  an- 
swer to  this  objection,  1  reply,  that  though  moral 
evil  will  be  the  cause  of  death,  and  though  it  be  re- 
moved from  the  soul  of  every  genuine  Christain  on 
this  side  eternity  ;  yet  death  must  necessarily  take 
place,  unless  a  miraculous  interposition  of  divine 
power  should  invert  the  order  of  nature,  and  de- 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  75 

stroy  her  laws,  to  prevent  the  fact.  And  my  rea- 
sons for  these  assertions  are  comprised  m  the  fol- 
lowing paragraph. 

It  has  been  already  admitted,  that  all  bodies  com- 
pMunded  of  matter,  sgice  it  has  been  divided  into  ele- 
ments, have  within  them  a  natural  tendency  to  de- 
cay. Such  was,  and  such  still  is  the  material  part 
of  man.  To  prevent  this  effect  from  taking  place, 
God  placed  in  the  garden  of  Eden,  the  tree  of  life^ 
the  efficacy  of  which  counteracted  that  tendency 
which  the  parts  of  the  human  body  possessed.  And 
the  removal  of  this  tree,  which  took  place  immedi- 
ately after  the  introduction  of  moral  evil,  annihi- 
lating the  only  preventative  to  our  dissolution,  left 
the  component  parts  of  our  body  to  follow  that  ten- 
dency,  which  then  was,  and  still  is  inseparable  from 
all  terrestrial  bodies,  compounded  of  different  ele- 
ments. Thus  then,  though  moral  evil  shall  be  de- 
stroyed, the  destruction  of  moral  evil  cannot  restore 
the  tree  of  life  ;  and  consequently,  cannot  prevent 
that  inevitable  consequence  from  taking  place,  which 
necessarily  results  in  the  present  state  of  things  from 
those  elementary  parts  of  which  we  are  formed. 
But  when  the  present  state  of  things  shall  pass  away, 
and  this  universe  shall  be  dissolved,  when  those 
elements  into  which  all  matter  is  now  divided,  shall 
mingle  in  one  common  mass,  and  all  nature  shall 
undergo  a  grand  revolution ;  then  those  local  ten- 
dencies which  now  exist,  shall  either  rest  in  the 
sphere  of  action  for  which  they  were  created ;  or, 
hiiving  filled  up  the   stations  for  which  they  were 


T6  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

destined,  shall  expire  and  be  found  no  more.  And 
b^nce,  under  present  circumstances,  death  must 
take  place  upon  all,  even  thoui^h  moral  evil  should 
be  done  away. 

The  important  question  which  we  have  now  be- 
fore us,  is  not  whether  death  shall  .ontinue  to  add 
new  victims  to  his  gloomy  shrine  when  moral  evil 
shall  be  done  away  ;  but  wheiher  even  dissnliilioTi 
shall  not  be  destroued.  If  the  former  only  had 
been  proposed  for  our  decision,  no  proof  would 
have  been  necessary;  for  as  nothing  can  act  which 
is  deprived  of  being,  it  is  certain  that  the  instant 
death  is  destroyed,  nothing  can  afterward  suffer 
from  its  power.  But  if  death  and  the  dissolution  of 
soul  and  body,  be  in  the  abstract  the  same,  the  de- 
struction of  death  must  imply  the  destruction  of 
dissolution,  which  is  a  distinct  idea.  In  the  former 
case,  the  mere  negation  of  dying  wuuld  be  all 
that  could  be  intended,  vvjiich  is  not  the  point  to  be 
proved  ;  but  hi  the  latter,  if  death  and  dissolution 
be  the  same,  the  annihilation  of  death  must  be  the 
annihilation  of  dissolution.  And,  when  that  disso- 
lution which  is  implied  in  death,  shall  be  destroyed, 
the  inevitable  consequence  must  be  the  resurrection 
of  the  human  body  from  the  grave,  But  this  topic 
will  be  pursued  in  a  fu.ure  section. 

If  either  the  immediate  or  remote  effects  of  mo- 
ral evil  be  supposed  to  continue  for  ever,  in  these 
subjects  from  which  all  moral  evil  is  done  away  ;  I 
would  ask  upon  what  cause  or  causes  do  these  ef- 
fects depend  for  their  existence  ?  Every  effect  must 


Sect.  1.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  77 

have  a  cause,  not  only  to  produce  but  to  continue  it ; 
a  cause  which  is  adequate  to  its  production  and  its 
continuance,  and  which  must  remain  in  union  with 
the  effect  which  it  produced  and  which  continues. 
Unless  we  admit  those  general  propositions,  the 
terms  cause  and  effect  become  unintelligible  ;  and  are 
devoid  of  meaning.  But,  as  moral  evii  is  the  cause 
of  death,  and  the  primary  cause  of  all  those  effects 
which  are  included  in  and  result  from  it,  whenever 
moral  evil  shall  be  done  away,  we  behold  the  anni- 
hilation of  the  primary  cause  upon  which  death  and 
all  the  consequences  of  death  depend.  And  there- 
fore, if  we  admit  that  the  natural  effects  of  moral 
evil  continue  after  their  primary  cause  shall  have 
been  totally  destroyed,  we  at  once  break  down  all 
connection  between  cause  and  effect ;  and  by  so  do- 
ing we  make  an  effect,  which  by  its  name  we  ac- 
knowledge to  be  dependent,  to  continue  through 
eternity,  while  we  suppose  the  cause  which  is  de- 
pendent, to  be  perfectly  annihilated,  . 

Can  any  effect,  I  would  ask,  continue  in  exists 
ence  without  a  cause?  This  surely  must  be  impos- 
sible. Can  any  thing  result  from  a  cause,  which  is 
admitted  to  be  extinct  ?  This  mubt  be  impossible 
as  the  other.  Can  any  thing,  which  has  in  itself 
no  independent  existence,  derive  a  continuance  of 
existence  from  itself?  This  cannot  possibly  be.  In 
admitting  the  first  of  these  cases,  we  must  presume 
what  we  have  denominated  an  effect,  to  be  an  effect 
and  not  an  effect  at  the  same  time,  which  is  a 
plain  contradiction.     In  admitting  the   second  case 


78  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  III. 

we  must  presume  that  a  cause  can  act  after  it  is 
deprived  of  being,  which  is  also  a  contradiction. 
And  in  admitting  the  third  case,  we  must  ascribe 
independence  to  an  effect,  which  from  its  name  and 
nature,  must  be  destitute  of  it;  which  is  in  effect 
denominating  it  to  be  independent,  and  not  inde- 
pendent at  the  same  time.  Hence  then,  conclude, 
that  as  nothing  m  the  ,first  place^  can  be  an  effect 
without  a  cause,  and  in  the  second,  that  no  cause 
can  act  when  it  is  devoid  of  being,  and  that  in  the 
third  6a>6' nothing  can  derive  from  itself  an  inde- 
pendence which  it  does  not  possess  ;  no  such  case 
can  possibly  exist.  And  therefore,  as  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  human  body  must  be  precisely  in  the 
situation  of  this  effect,  which  under  these  circum- 
stances can  have  no  existence  ;  it  must  necessarily 
cease  through  the  destruction  of  moral  evil,  and  the 
human  budy  must  be  awakened  from  the  sleep  of 
death. 

It  is  certain  that  no  contact  can  exist  between  an 
effect  which  is  in  being,  and  a  cause  which  is  not. 
Fori  if  such  a  contact  can  exist,  then  entity  must 
depend  upon  nonentity  for  the  continuance  of  its 
existence,  which  is  self-evident  absurdity.  But, 
since  no  such  contact  can  possibly  exist,  all  de- 
pendence must,  of  necessity,  be  annihilated ;  and 
consequently,  the  door  of  immortality  must  be 
opened  to  the  human  body,  though  now  moulder- 
ing in  the  tomb. 

Whether  the  cause  of  our  dissolution  be  death 
or  moral  evil,  certain  it  is,  that  some  cause  must  be 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  79 

admitted  ;  and  whether  it  be  the  former  or  the  lat- 
ter, while  either  continues  in  existence,  we  behold 
the  dissolution  of  the  human  body,  and  the  primary 
cause  which  produced  it,  in  contact  with  each 
other.  But,  when  death  and  moral  evil  are  de- 
stroyed, unless  the  body  rise  again  from  the  grave, 
we  must  suppose  a  change  to  take  place  in  the 
condition  of  the  dead,  while  their  continuance  in 
the  grave  will  prove  their  condition  to  be  precisely 
the  same  that  it  was  before  death  and  moral  evil 
were  destroyed.  But,  as  it  is  impossible  for  any 
condition  to  be  the  same  while  it  is  different  from 
what  it  was  before,  it  will  evidently  follow,  unless 
we  admit  a  contradiction,  that  the  dead  must  be 
restored  to  future  life.  But,  this  conclusion  must 
finally  depend  upon  the  certainty  that  a  contradic- 
tion must  be  the  reverse. 

The  change  which  is  presumed,  arises  from  the 
distinction  that  must  be  between  the  existence  and 
extinction  of  the  cause  of  our  dissolution.  For,  the 
state  of  any  given  being,  whilst  the  cause  of  that 
state  is  in  existence,  can  never  be  precisely  the 
Same,  as  when  the  cause  of  that  state  is  totallv  de- 
stroyed.  For  as,  while  in  contact  with  its  cause, 
the  state  of  this  being  must  be  an  effect  resulting 
immediately  from  that  cause,  so  the  total  removal 
of  this  cause  must  make  the  state  of  this  being  cei*se 
from  being  an  effect  thus  resulting  ;  and  by  its  con- 
tinuance in  existence,  while  the  cause  on  which  it 
depended  is  no  more,  it  must  be  presumed  to  have 
acquired  an  independence.     The  passing  from  de- 


80        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  III. 

pend'ence  to  independence,  must  therefore  amount 
to  a  positive  change.  But  if,  under  these  circum- 
stances, the  dead  rise  not,  their  continuing  in  a 
state  of  corruption,  after  the  cause  of  that  corrup- 
tion  shall  have  been  done  away,  will  prove  their 
state  to  be  precisely  the  same,  as  though  the 
cause  of  that  state  were  in  actual  existence.  And 
unless  we  admit  a  resurrection  of  the  body,  we 
shall  be  driven  to  the  conclusion,  that  the  removal 
of  the  cause  of  dissolution  is  no  removal  of  it ;  and 
that  the  state  of  the  dead  has  undergone  a  change, 
from  dependence  to  independence,  while  it  remains 
precisely  the  same  ;  so  that  it  must  have  undergone 
a  change  and  not  have  undergone  a  change  at  the 
same  time. 

If  the  removal  of  the  cause  of  any 'given  effect, 
produce  no  change  in  the  state  of  that  effect,  it  must 
be  the  removal  of  the  cause  and  the  establishment 
of  it  at  the  same  time,  which  is  an  evident  coitradic- 
tion ;  that  removal  therefore,  which  produces  no 
change,  cannot  be  admitted.  But  if,  in  the  case  of 
the  human  body  before  us,  the  removal  of  the  cause 
of  dissolution  produce  a  change,  I  w'ould  ask,  in 
what  does  that  change  consist  ?  It  cannot  be  in  the 
condition  of  the  body,  if  the  dead  rise  not ;  neither 
can  it  be  in  any  change  which  the  atoms  can  under- 
go. It  cannot  be  in  future  hopes  and  fears,  because 
a  body  devoid  of  life  must  be  equally  incapable  of 
both.  It  cannot  be  in  the  dispersion  of  that  gloom 
which  hovers  round  their  solitary  mansion  ;  for,  to 
this  the  peaceable  inhabitants  are  perfectly  insen- 


Sect.  I.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  81 

sible.     It  cannot   be  in  any  future  destiny  which 
awaits  the  body  ;  for,  if  the  cause  of  dissolution  had 
never  been  rennoved,  the  body  could  only  continue 
insensible   for  ever;  and,  if  it    rise  not   from  the 
grave,   the    period   of  its    destiny    is  precisely  the 
same.    Nothing  therefore,  can  be  presumed,  which 
can  either  increiase  the  horrors  of  the  grave,  or  me- 
liorate the  condition  of  the  lifeless  atoms.     In  fine, 
I  can  discover  no  change   in  the  state  of  the  human 
body,  in  consequence  of  the  removal   of  the   cause 
of  its  dissolution,    unless   we  admit  a  resurrection 
from  the  grave ;  but,   on  the   contrary,    unless  we 
admit  that  change  which  the  resurrection  implies, 
the  supposition  involves  in  it  this  absurdity,  that  the 
state  of  the  body  is  changed,  and  is  not  changed  at 
the  same  time.     As,   therefore,    this  contradiction 
cannot   be   admitted   into   our .  reasonings ;    some 
change  in  the  state  of  the   dead  must  be  acknow- 
ledged.    But  as  no  change  can  be  conceived,  while 
,  the  body  continues  mouldering  in  the  tomb,  the  ar- 
gument gives  us  all  the  evidence  of  moral  certainty, 
that  the  human   body  must  rise  again  from  the 
grave. 

That  natural  evil  is  eiih&r  2i  covseguejice  or, an 
effect  of  that  which  is  moral,  is  a  point  which  is^at 
once  sanctioned  by  general  consent,  and  founded 
upon  fact ;  and  few  are  to  be  found  who  will  attempt 
to  dispute  .its  certainty.  In  the  lists  of  natural  evil, 
death  must  be  allowed  to  bear  a  distinguishing  rank. 
If  then  all  natural  evil  be  either  a  consequence  or 
an  effect  of  that  which  is  moral ;  death  itself  must 

N 


82      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  Ilf, 

depend  for  its  continuance  upon  the  continuance 
of  moral  evil.  Consequently,  when  moral  evil  shall 
be  done  away,  death  itself  must  cease  to  have  a  be- 
ing ;  because  natural  evil  is  dependant  upon  that 
which  is  moral.  As  therefore,  the  destruction  of 
moral  evil,  must  issue  in  the  destruction  of  death  j  so 
the  destruction  of  death  must  issue  in  the  destruction 
of  those  subordinate  effects  which  result  from  it. 
And  as  the  dissolution  of  the  body  is  one  of  these 
effects  which  result  from  death,  dissolution  must  be 
done  away  ;  when  therefore,  dissolution  shall  be  de- 
stroyed,.the  human  body  must  rise  into  newness  of 
life,  and  partake  of  immortality. 

Thus  then,  since  the  annihilation  of  moral  evil 
must  involve  the  destruction  of  death,  and  the  de- 
struction of  those  modes  which  the  natural  efixts 
of  death  assume;  we  have  an  assurance  of  a  future 
resurrection,  established  upon  the  most  unquestion- 
able evidence  that  moral  certainty  can  afford.  For, 
as  death  is  a  natural  evil,  and  depends  upon  moral 
evil  for  its  existence  j  so  those  natural  effects  which 
result  from  death,  must  depend  upon  death  for  their 
existence  ;  in  the  same  manner  as  death  itself  de- 
pends upon  moral  evil  for  all  that  being  which  it 
possesses.  And  as  all  those  natural  effects  which 
result  from  death,  must,  together  with  death,  be 
included  in  the  general  term  natural  evil^  it  follows, 
that  when  natural  evil  shall  be  destroyed,  these  na- 
tural effects  and  consequences  must  expire ;  and 
the  human  body,  escaping  the  embrace  of  death, 
which  shall  be  no  more,  must  quit  the  confines  of 
the  tomb. 


Sect.  I.}  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  83 

Admitting  then  that  natural  evil  is  the  effect  of 
that  which  is  moral,  of  which  the  dissolution  of  our 
bodies  must  be  no  inconsiderable  part ;  to  evade 
the  force  of  the  preceding  argument,  it  must  be 
asserted,  that  *'  7iatiiral  evil  can  survive  the  cause 
which, first  called  it  into  being.^''  To  this  objection 
I  havtf  already  replied.  And  J  have  only  again  to 
repeat,  that  if  the  objection  be  admitted,  we  must 
suppose  an  effect  to  continue  in  existence  without  a 
cause  ;  which  involves  this  contradiction,  that  it  is 
an  effect,  and  not  an  effect  at  the  same  time.  As, 
therefore,  natural  evil  cannot  survive  its  cause ;  it 

follows,  that  whenever  moral  evil  shall  be  extracted 
from   human   nature,    then,    dissolution  as  well  as 

death,  both  of  which  are  branches,  must  expire. 

As  therefore,  the  immortality  of  the  human  soul, 
and  the  certainty  of  those  rewards  which  await  the 
souls  of  the  righteous,  must  be  admitted,  from  evi- 
dences of  the  most  indubitable  nature  ;  that  moral 
evil  must  be  extracted  from  them  is  a  truth  capa- 
ble of  ihe  most  decisive  proof;  since  such  souls 
must  be  incapable  of  felicity,  whilst  tainted  with 
moral  evil,  even  if  they  should  be  admitted  to  a  re- 
gion of  unsullied  glory.  As,  therefore,  moral  evil 
mu:>t  be  separated  from  human  nature,  in  order  that 
it  may  be  rendered  capable  of  entering  into  a  state 
of  consummate  joy  ;  and  as  natural  evil  cannot  con- 
tlTiue  to  exist,  when  moral  evil  is  destroyed,  because 
it  involves  a  contradiction,  considerable  weight  is 
hereby  added  to  this  branch  of  moral  evidence.  For, 
since  it  cannot  be  denied  that  the  separation  oi  the 


84        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  III. 

soul  and  body  by  death,  and  the  subsequent  dissolu- 
tion of  the  component  p;irts  of  the  body  are  branch- 
es of  natural  evil,  which  must  perish  when  moral 
evil  is  done  away ;  we  are  furnished  with  all  the 
evidence  which  the  subject  itself  seems  capable  of 
admitting,  that  the  bodies  of  all  the  righteous  shall 
come  forth  in  a  glorious  resurrection,  * 

That  the  arguments  adduced  in  this  section,  are 
partial  in  their  application,  1  am  well  aware.  They 
have  been  advanced  in  favour  of  the  resurrection  of 
the  righteous  only  ;  and  if  their  validity  in  this  par- 
tial application  be  admitted,  I  ask  for  nothing  more. 
The  righteous  and  the  wicked  comprehend  the 
whole  of  the  human  race.  Jn  proof  that  the  bodies 
of  the  unrighteous  shall  rise  again,  some  arguments 
will  be  adduced  hereafter,  from  that  immutable 
justice  which  is  inseparable  from  God.  It  is  of  no 
inconsiderable  importance  in  the  present  stage  of 
my  discussion,  for  us  to  know,  that  moral  evil  and 
natural  evil,  are  so  intimately  connected  together, 
that  when  the  former  is  done  away,  the  latter  must 
expire ;  and  that  from  hence  the  reverse  may  with 
justice  be  inferred.  Natural  evil  may,  in  the  pro- 
gress of  its  continuance,  be  changed  in  the  modes 
of  its  app  ication  and  existence  ;  but,  as  it  is  natu- 
rally dependent  upon  moral  evil  for  its  being,  we 
may  rest  assured,  that  while  moral  evil  continues 
in  existence,  natural  evil,  in  some  or  other  of  its 
modes,  must  continue  undestroycd. 

Bur,   in  the  righteous,  all  natural   evil  must  be 
ovdfcome,  before  they  can  inherit  the  kingdom  pre 


Sec.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODV.  85 

pared  for  them  before  the  foundation  of  the  world. 
Nevertheless,  for  the  accomplishment  of  ihese  vast 
and  all  important  realities,  we  must  direct  our  views 
to  that  eventlul  sera,  when  death  shall  be  forever 
slain,  or  swallowed  up  in  eternal  victory.  Then, 
when  natural  evil  shall  be  removed,  when  diss  iiu- 
tion  shall  be  destroyed,  and  the  will  of  man  shall  be 
lost  in  the  will  of  God  ;  the  bodies  of  all  his  saints 
shall  come  fordi  in  glory  and  immortality,  and  every 
vestige  of  human  degradation  shall  be  for  ever  done 
away, 

SECTION  II. 

Arguments  tejiding  to  prove,  that  the  AnnihUation 
oj  Morai  Evilj  can  07ity  be  effected  bij  a  Vicari^ 
ous  Sacrifice. 

It  has  been  observed  in  the  preceding  section, 
that  no  effect  can  either  commence  existence,  or 
continue  it  when  begun,  without  a  cause.  And  that 
this  cause,  to  which  any  effect  is  justly  ascribed, 
must  be  adequate  to  the  production  of  it,  may  be 
reasonably  esteemed  as  first  principles  of  philoso- 
phy, I  presume  no  one  will  dispute.  To  deny- 
either  of  these  points,  will  involve  us  in  absurdi- 
ties and  contradictions,  which  it  is  useless  to  name. 

The  arguments  which  have  hitherto  been  ad- 
vanced in  favour  of  the  resurrection,  have  been 
chiefly  founded  upon  the  annihilation  of  death ;  and 
the  annihilation  of  death  has  been  inferred  from  the 
presumed  annihilation  of  moral  evil.     But,   as  the 


96  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

cause  through  which  moral  evil  can  alone  be  de- 
stroyed, hub  been  hitherto  unexplored  ;  even  the 
conclusions  which  we  have  drawn  will  be  found  in- 
conclusive and  abortive,  and  all  our  formerreason- 
ings  must  iall  to  the  ground,  unless  we  can  be 
satisfied  of  this  primary  foundation,  namely,  that 
moral  evil  shall  be  actually  done  away. 

The  various  branches  of  evidence  which  conspire 
to  establish  the  resurrectioii  of  the  human  body, 
have  a  mutual  dependence  upon  one  another ;  and 
such  is  the  nature  of  this  dependence,  that  if  only 
one  link  be  broken,  the  whole  chain  must  be  de- 
strr  .yed.  But,  ho\y  closely  soever  the  various  parts, 
which  constitute  the  general  chain  of  argumentation, 
may  adhere  together ;  there  must  be  some  perma- 
nent rock  to  which  the  first  link  must  be  united. 
It  is  on  the  stability  of  this  .rock  that  the  perma- 
nency of  the  connective  links  must  depend,  to 
reach  those  remote  conclusions  which  result  from 
this  harmony  of  parts  ;  and  which,  1  have  presum- 
ed in  the  case  before  us,  to  issue  in  the  final  resur- 
rection of  the  human  body  from  the  dead. 

That  moral  evil  does  exist,  is  a  fact  too  obvi- 
ous to  require  any  proof;  and  that  it  could  not 
have  existed  in  the  primeval  state  of  things,  is  a  ne- 
cessary consequence  which  results  from  the  nature 
and  attributes  of  God.  And  certain  it  is,  in  order 
to  the  atiainment  of  true  felicity,  that  moral  evil 
must  be  done  away  from  man. 

The  destruction  of  moral  evil,  is  however,  a  point 
which  has  rather  been  assumed  than  proved  ;  and 
it  has  been  assumed,    from    the  state  of  heaven., 


Sect.  II.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  87 

and  the  nature  of  those  rewards  which  await  the 
righteous  in  a  future  state  of  being.  But,  how, 
the  destruction  of  moral  evil  is  to  be  effected,  re- 
mains yet  to  be  considered  ;  and  the  great  question 
now  before  us  is,  To  what  cause  can  we  attribute 
an  effect  so  important  ?  On  this  cause  must  depend 
the  happiness  which  awaits  mankind  beyond  the 
grave  ;  and  upon  this  cause  must  ultlmaiely  depend 
many  of  the  principal  proofs  which  we  can  adduce 
in  favour  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  from  the 
grave.  It  is  a  question,  in  which  the  christian  and 
the  unbeliever  are  alike  interested  ;  and  which  in- 
volves difficulties  which  Christianity  alone  can  solve, 
and  solve  only  by  admitting  the  vicarious  sacrifice 
of  Jesus  Christ. 

That  man  in  a  state  of  innocency  must  have  been 
entitled  to  the  protection  of  God,  cannot  with  any 
pretence  of  justice  be  denied  ;  because  the  reverse 
will  involve  the  conduct  of  God  in  absurdities  and 
contradictions.  And  it  is  equally  certain,  that  when 
moral  evil  entered  into  the  world  and  took  posses- 
sion of  the  human  heart,  the  relative  situation  of 
man  to  God.  must  have  been  considerably  changed. 
The  justice  which  was  before  engaged  in  this  pro- 
tection and  preservation,  now  enforced  a  claim  of 
an  opposite  nature,  and  demanded  that  satisfaction 
which  culprits  are  obliged  to  make  to  a  violaied  law. 

Under  these  circumstances,  all  hopes  of  future 
felicity  must  have  abandoned  the  human  bosom, 
and  man.  must  have  been  placed  at  an  infinite  dis- 
tance from  its  possession,  unless  his  hopes  had  been 
founded  upon  some  principle  distinct  from  that  in- 


8«  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  ill. 

cv-^rahle  justice,  to  which  he  had  forfeited  both  hi;; 
freedom  and  his  life.  For,  since  the  utmost  of  his 
eAiitiorts  could  only  have  been  available  for  the  pre- 
sent moment,  in  his  primeval  state  ;  it  is  absurd  to 
Suppose,  that  in  his  lapsed  condition,  he  could  have 
acquired  any  additional  qualifications,  or  new  pow- 
ers to  exert  in  the  cause  of  virtue.  'Were  we  to 
admit  this,  we  should  be  driven  to  this  strange  con- 
clusion, that  man,  immediately  after  the  introduc- 
tion of  moral  evil,  Wiis  a  lapsed  being  and  not  a 
lapsed  being  at  the  same  time.  But,  as  such  con- 
tradictioft  never  can  be  admitted,  it  plainly  follows, 
that  all  human  claims  to  protection  were  forfeited  to 
diviue  justice  ;  the  relative  situation  of  man  as  to 
his  maker,  must  therefore  havC  undergone  a  consid- 
erable  change. 

If,  however,   on   the   contrary,  while    we    admit 
the  existence  of  moral  evil,   we  suppose   that  the 
relative  situation  of  man  was  not  changed  by  its 
introduction  ;  we  reduce  moral  evil  to  a  nonentity. 
And,  from  admitting  its  existence,    while   we  ex- 
clude that  change  in  man*  which  is  essential  to  its 
being,   and  by  which  its  existence  can  be  known  ; 
\vc  are  forced  to  suppose  that  moral  evil  exists  and 
does  not  exist  at  the  same  time.     And,  as  all  those 
principles  which  involve  contradictions  must  neces- 
sarily be  false ;  it  plainly  follows   that  the   relative 
situation  of  man  must  have  been  considerably  chang- 
ed by  the  introduction  of  moral  evil  into  the  world, 
since  the  reverse    includes  a  contradiction.     And, 
as  his  lapsed  state  cou!d  not  possibly  have  confer- 
red upon  him  any  new  powers  of  exertion  in  the 


Sftct.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  8» 

cause  of  holiness  and  virtue ;  he  could  neither  ac 
complish  his  own  restoration,  nor  claim  it  from  that 
justice,  to  Which  he  durst  not  make  any  appeal.  It 
therefore  follows,  that  the  restoration  of  man  to 
holiness  and  happiness,  must  have  arisen  from  a 
cause  distinct  from  that  of  justice,  which  was  bound 
to  protect  him  while  he  continued  in  a  state  of  inno- 
cence ;  a  cause,  which,  under  no  circumstances 
whatever,  could  possibly  reside  in  man. 

We  can,  perhaps,  have  no  conception  how  any 
thing  can  be  capable  of  softening  the  rigours  of  jus- 
tice, except  that  principle  of  divine  mercy,  which 
we  are  assured  must  reside  in  God. 

But  here  a  new  difficulty  occurs.  For,  although 
both  justice  and  mercy  be  admitted  to  reside  in 
God ;  yet,  how  the  interference  of  mercy  could  sup- 
plant the  demands  of  justice  or  abrogate  its  claims, 
are  points  of  difficulty,  which,  abstractedly,  from, 
the  atonement,  we  could  never  comprehend. 

If  justice  would  voluntarily  relinquish  its  claims, 
without  an  equivalent,  to  make  room  for  the  opera- 
tions of  mercy  ;  it  must  follow  that  God  could  not 
be  necessarily,  but  only  arbitrarily  just.  And  the 
moment  that  we  admit  that  God  is  not  necessarily 
just,  that  very  moment  we  annihilate  one  of  his  es- 
sential attributes,  and  undeify  his  nature.  For,  if 
God  in  any  given  period  of  duration,  either  of  time 
or  eternity,  can  relinquish  his  justice,  in  that  very 
period  we  must  behold  him  without  it.  If  there- 
fore, omnipotence  can  exist  through  one  hour, 
without  justice,  it  can  exist  through  two,  for  the 
same  reason ;  and  that  which  can  exist  thus  through 

o 


^0        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Cht^p.  IH, 

two  hours  can  consequently  exist  thus  forever;  and 
in  this  case  vvc  must  admit,  that  justice  is  not  an 
essential  attribute  of  God.  But,  as  those  princi- 
ples Avhich  lead  to  undeify  his,nature,  or  to  annihi- 
late his  attributes,  must  certainly  be  false  ;  it  fol- 
lows, that  justice  must  be  an  essential  attribute  ol; 
the  divine  nature,  and  therefore  God  must  neces- 
sarily be  just.  And,  as  God  is  and  must  be  neces- 
sarily j-ust;  it  follows  with  the  most  unquestionable 
certainty,  that  the  claims  of  justice  cannot  be  relin- 
quished without  an  equivalent,  either  in  time  or  in 
eternity.  And,  if  justice,  without  an  equivalent, 
cannot  relinquish  its  clams  ;  no  room  can  be  found 
for  the  operations  of  mercy,  though  it  be  admitted 
that  it  did  exist  and,  reside  in  God, 

Neither  can  it  be  supposed,  that  the  claims  of 
justice  can  be  supplanted  by  the  designs  of  mercy. 
For  could  we  suppose  the  case  before  us  possible, 
without  a  vicarious  sacrifice  ;  the  attributes  o{  God 
must  be  presumed  to  act  in  hostility  to  one  another. 
If  the  rnercy  of  God  should  attempt  to  supplant  his 
justice ;  the  attempt  must  be  successful  or  it  must 
not.  if  it  be  successful,  the  success  of  mercy  will 
prove  the  imbecility  of  justice;  and  if  unsuc- 
cessful, that  want  (jf  success  will  fully  demon- 
strate the  futility  of  the  attempt ;  and  in  either 
case,  it  will  be  demonstrated  that  God  is  not 
possessed  of  all  possible  perfections.  Thus  then, 
while  we,  from  his  nature  and  attributes,  admit  the 
existence  of  the  divine  perfections,  even  while  wc 
presume  that  his  mercy  can  supplant  justice;  we 
must  suppose  that  God  is  possessed  of  all  possible 


Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  ?1 

perfection,  and  yet  not  possessed  of  it  at  the  same 
time. 

Jf  the  mercy  of  God  can  overcome  his  justice  in 
one  instance,  nothing  can  hinder  it  from  overcoming 
the  divine  justice  in  al!.  And,  if  the  divine  justice 
mu\'  be  totally  overcomcj  while  the  essence  of  God 
remains  entire  ;  it  follows  from  this  supposition  also 
that  justice  is  not  essential  to  the  divine  nature. 

If  mercy  can  counteract  the  claims  of  justice,  I 
would  ask,  does  the  essence  of  God  remain  entire, 
or  is  it  destroyed  ?  If  the  essence  of  God  remain, 
while  the  claims  of  justice  are  counteracted  by  mer- 
cy, it  is  evident  that  justice  is  not  an  essential  attri- 
bute of  his  nature  ;  because  the  essence  is  presumed 
to  remain,  when  this  attribute  is  done  away.  But  if, 
on  the  contrary,  his  essence  be  destroyed  by  the 
removal  of  his  justice,  we  must,  by  allowing  the 
operation  of  his  mercy,  suppose  the  existence  of 
God  to  continue  after  we  have  supposed  his  essence 
to  be  destroyed.  Hence  then  this  conclusion  follows, 
from  each  supposition  which  we  have  made  ;  name- 
ly, whether  we  presume  the  divine  essence  to  re- 
main or  to  be  destroyed,  that  the  mind  is  conducted 
in  either  case  to  a  palpable  contradiction.  Thus  if 
the  essence  of  God  remain,  it  must  be' an  essence 
without  justice;  but  certain  it  is,  that  an  essence 
which  is  devoid  of  justice  cannot  be  the  essence  pf 
God  :  here  then  we  have  the  divine  essence  and  not 
the  divine  essence  at  the  same  time.  But  if,  on  the 
contrary,  the  essence  of  God  be  destroyed,  by  the 
removal  of  his  justice,   through  his  mercy  ;  wc;  ad.- 


§5  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

mit  the  divine  existence  without  the  divine  essence. 
As  therefore  these  contradictions  are  equal  on  each 
side,  it  must  finally  follow,  that  justice  cannot  be 
supplanted  by  mercy,  without  a  vicarious  sacrifice, 
any  more  than  justice  can  relinquish  its  claims, 
without  a  forfeiture  af  its  name  and  nature. 

As  therefore  justice  cannot  relinquish  its  claims, 
nor  mercy  snatch  the  culprit  from  its  hands ;  be- 
cause in  the  former  case,  God  must  cease  to  be  ne- 
cessarily just,  and  in  the  latter,  that  power  which 
is  presumed  to  be  infinite  must  be  overcome  ;  since 
God  can  neither  act  contrarily  to  himself,  nor  suf- 
fer his  attributes  to  move  in  hostility  towards  one 
another  ;  it  follows  with  the  most  decisive  certainty, 
that  justice  and  Tiercy  can  never  meet  together  in 
the  same  subject,  without  that  medium  which  the 
gospel  holds  forth,  in  the  vicarious  sacrifice  of  the 
Saviour  of  the  world.  But,  through  the  mediation 
of  the  atonement,  the  whole  face  of  things  assumes 
a  different  aspect.  We  there  plainly  discover  how 
God  can  at  once  be  Just^  and  tke  justifier  of  him 
that  bdkveth  in  Jesus*  Through  this  sacrifice, 
the  order  of  heaven  and  earth  appears  again  to  re^ 
vive ;  and  we  behold  in  contemplation,  another 
Eden  descending  from  the  skies,  to  bless  mankind 
and  renovate  the  world. 

Whatever  niay  be  said  in  favour  of  the  human 
powers,  or  of  the  dignity  of  human  nature  ;  we 
never  can  suppose,  without  admitting  an  absurdity, 
that  any  being  which  is  wholly  polluted  can  renovate 
itself.  Such  a  notion  carries  with  it  its  own  refuta- 
tion, and  includes  within   it,   irreconcileable  sup- 


Sect.  II.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  93 

positions  which  we  cannot  possibly  admit.  For  if 
any  given  being  that  is  wholly  polluted,  can  be  pre- 
sumed to  renovate  itself,  renovation  must  begin  in 
some  polluted  part ;  because  that  which  is  either 
wholly  corrupted  in  a  natural  sense,  or  polluted  in 
one  that  is  moral,  can  include  nothing  but  corrup- 
tion and  pollution  in  its  nature.  And,  to  suppose 
that  which  is  wholly  corrupted  or  polluted,  can  pro- 
duce a  renovation  in  itself,  is  to  suppose  that  corrup- 
tion can  beget  incorruption,  and  that  pollution  can 
beget  purity.  We  must  suppose  it  to  act  in  oppo- 
sition to  itself,  and  to  produce  an  effect  which  can- 
not be  included  within  its  nature,  which  is  a  palpable 
contradiction.  For,  as  no  cause  can  produce  an 
effect,  which  is  the  reverse  of  itself,  and  which  it  has 
not  the  power  of  producing  ;  so,  nothing  can  result 
from  any  given  principle,  which  is  not  virtually  in- 
cluded in  its  nature.  And,  as  a  power  to  renovate, 
cannot  be  included  in  any  nature  that  is  wholly  des- 
titute of  purity,  and  therefore  destitute  of  this  pow- 
er ;  it  must  follow,  that  the  renovation  of  human 
nature,  as  well  as  its  reconciliation  to  God  must  arise 
from  some  extrinsic  cause.  And  certain  it  is,  that 
that  cause  which  influences  nature,  without  being, 
included  within  it,  and  influences  it  so  as  to  produce 
its  renovation,  must  be  supernatural,  and  must 
therefore  come  from  God, 

Whatever  the  nature  of  this  influence  or  the  mode 
of  its  operation  may  be,  we  are  satisfactorily  assur, 
ed  that  it  must  communicate  itself  to  man,  in  order 
to  produce  those  eflfects,  which  a  renovation  im- 
plies,   and  which  we  ascribe   to   its  sacred  energy. 


94  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

Without  this,  it  is  no  longer  iiifiiience  ;  and  indeed 
an  uncommunicated  or  uninfiuencing  influence,  is  a 
contradiction  in  terms.  But,  since  influence  and 
not  the  absence  of  it,  is  tlie  point  under  present  con- 
sideration, its  existence  must  necessarily'  be  ad- 
mit ed«,  and  therefore  it  follows,  with  unq'iesli(;nable 
certainty,  that  some  mode  of  communication  must 
also  exist,  through  which  it  imparts  its  renovating 
energies  to  the  internal  and  perceptive  powers  of  the 
human  soul.  And  whether  we  attribute  this  in- 
fluence to  divine  mcrcij^  to  loiCy  lo  the  grace  of 
God  J  or  to  the  operation  of  his  Holif  Spirit,  the 
ijnal  result  will  be  the  same  ;  and  the  regeneration 
of  the  human  race  must  be  attributed  to  an  agency 
Uo  well  as  energy  which  resides  not  in  man.* 

*  It  has  been  hinted  by  some  of  my  respectable  friends,  to 
\vhom  the  subject  of  this  Essay  was  but  impcrfet  tly  tnown, 
"•  That  all  arguments  which  may  be  drawn  from  human  rea- 
son, in  favour  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  will  have  a  ten- 
dency to  set  aside  the  efiicacy  of  the  atonement,  and  those 
consequent  blessings  which  are  ascribed  by  all  true  Christian? 
to  the  grace  of  Ggd,  manifested  through  Jesus  Christ."  To 
this  objection  I  beg  leave  to  o'Sev  a  few  thoQghts, 

From  what  has  been  written  in  this  Section,  I  Hatter  myself 
iliat  every  intelligent  reader,  will  not  only  be  satisfied  that  I 
have  no  design  to  set  aside  the  atonement,  but  that  I  make  it 
the  ground-v.ork  of  the  whole  fabric  which  I  am  attempting  to 
raibc.  Strike  off  the  atonement,  and  you  deprive  me  of  my 
only  assurance  that  moral  evil  shall  ever  be  destroyed.  Now, 
if  moral  evil  be  net  destroyed,  then  natural  evil,  which  results 
from  it,  cannot  be  discontinued  ;  and,  in  this  case,  I  can- have" 
jjo  proof  that  death,  which  as  a  co!isi;!crable  branch  of  natural 
evil,  shall  be  annihilated  ;  and  if  death  be  not  annihilated,  I  can 
bavc  U7  reason  whatever  tp  hope,  cilhev  \hu   di&solutign  shall 


Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  ?5 

As  therefore  those  arguments  which  have  been 
advanced  in  favpur  of  the  resurrection,  have  been 
founded  upon  the  destruction  of  death,  while  the  de- 
be  done  away,  or  tliat  a  resurrection  of  the  body  shall  take 
place. 

Thus  are^the  different  parts  of  the  chain  of  evidence  linked 
together.  Instead,  therefore,  of  undermining  the  truth  and 
efficacy  of  the  atonement,  or  attemptinsj  to  set  it  aside,  it  must 
be  for  the  interest  of  my  present  work,  to  see  it  established 
upon  the  most  immovable  basis  ;  for,  to  the  atonement  all  my 
arguments,  from  vi^hatever  sources  they  may  be  drawn,  either 
directly  or  indirectly  must  ultimately  appeal. 

In  addition  to  the  above  objection,  it  has  been  furthermore 
observed  by  some,  "that  if  the  doctrine  of  a  resurrection  be 
revealed  in  scripture,  all  attempts  to  support  the  fact  by  ab- 
stract reasoning,  must  indirectly  call  in  question  the  veracity  of 
i-evelation  ;  and,  that  all  such  arguments  must  be  both  unne- 
cessary and  injurious."  To  this  objection  also,  I  must  bcf^- 
leave  to  offer  a  few  words,  because  I  have  no  conception  how, 
either  the  authority  or  authenticity  of  the  Bible  can  be  weak- 
ened by  being  supported  by  those  collateral  evidences,  which 
the  book  of  nature  yields. 

With  some,  it  has  been  thought  to  be  a  thing  incredible  that 
God  should  raise  the  dead  ;  and  with  others,  the  thing  itself 
has  been  deemed  to  be  impossible.  And  we  are  well  assured, 
that  where  any  given  fact  is  proposed  to  our  belief,  which  ap- 
pears either  incredible,  or  impossible,  no  genuine  assent  can  be 
yielded  to  it  by  a  rational  and  well-informed  mind.  Because, 
according  to  the  incredibility  or  impossibility  of  the  fart  pro- 
posed, our  assent  must  be  proportionably  weakened,  till,  per- 
haps, the  evidence  in  its  favour  wjll  become  insufficient  to  pro- 
duce conviction. 

An  attempt,  therefore,  to  clear  the  important  fact  before  us, 
from  the  incredibility  or  impossibility  which  is  supposed  to  be 
included  in  its  nature,  can  neitlier  be  unnecessary  nor  injurious 
to  the  cause  of  truth,  hut  must  serve  to  elucidate  and  confirm 
ii,  since  we  are  thereby  presented  with  a  train  of  collateral  evi- 


so         IDENTITV  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  III. 

struction  of  death  has  been  inferred  from  the  anni- 
hilation of  moral  evil,  so  the  annihilation  of  moral 
evil  must  be  founded  upon  the  redemption  wrought 

dcnce  which  Is  designed  to  act  in  concert  v.'ith  ihc  authority  of 
revelation.  On  this  ground,  the  conviction  whicli  the  mind 
receives,  arises  from  two  distinct  sources,  and  is  at  once  ra- 
tional and  divine.  It  is  rational,  because  it  is  extricated  from 
those  embarrassments  which  occasionally  lay  an  embargo  on 
belief ;  and  it  is  divine,  because  revealed  by  the  unerring  Spirit 
of  truth.  The  advantages^  therefore,  which  wo  derive  from  ra- 
tional argument,  when  it  can  be  adduced  in  favour  of  facts  which 
appear  incomprehensible  to  some,  and  impossible  to  others, 
must  be  of  considerable  weight.  On  this  ground,  that  incredi- 
bility which  owes  its  origin  to  incomprehensibility  loses  all 
itr,  force  ;  and  the  fact,  by  such  elucidation,  is  brought  down 
to  a  level  with  those,  with  which  incredibility  never  could  asso- 
ciate. Rational  argument  must,  therefore  be  of  considerable 
\ise  to  '.he  sceptical  part  of  mankind  ;  and  cannot  be  Avholly 
lost  with  those  who  admit  the  authenticity  of  revelation,  since 
it  tends  to  elucidate  those  facts  which  the  word  of  God  reveals, 
vithout  unfolding  their  integral  parts. 

But  when,  from  this  incredibility  which  some  attach  to  fact 
and  incident,  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  tliose  who  imagine  the 
fact  to  be  impossible  ;  the  utility  of  I'ational  argument  assumes 
a  more  imperious  tone  ;  and  the  fact  itself,  thus  rescued  fronv 
apparent  contradictions  and  impossibilities,  and  thus  supported, 
demands  our  assent  on  grounds  of  the  most  unquestionable 
nature.  For,  while  we  either  perceive,  or  fancy  that  we  per- 
ceive, any  thing  contradictory  in  the  fact  which  is  proposed  to 
lis  for  our  belief;  it  is  impossible  that  the  mind  of  man  can 
make  that  fact  an  object  of  faith,  be  it  cither  rational  or  divine. 
No  man  can  believe  that  to  be  true,  which  he  perceives  to  be 
false  and  contrad!ctoi7  ;  even  though  he  could  not  disprove  that 
the  revelation  which  asserted  it  were  divine. 

Hence  then  this  general  conclusion  is  obvious,  that  those  ar- 
guments and  reasonings  which  are  calculated  to  remove  those 
apparent  contradictions  which  the  mind  perceives,  instead  o^ 


Sect.  III.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  *X 

out  for  man  by  Jesus  Christ.  And  to  this  also  we 
are  indebted  for  those  sacred  influences  which  must 
of  necessity  be  supernatural :  through  which  the  re- 
novation of  our  souls  can  alone  be  eftected,  and 
through  which  we  hope  for  felicity  beyond  the  grave. 
And  after  all  our  acute  investigations  and  philoso- 
phical researches,  it  is  to  this  redemption  that  we 
must  ultimately  look,  for  the  stability  of  those  argu- 
ments, which,  though  drawn  from  other  sources, 
tend  to  prove  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 


SECTION  III. 

On  the  effects  which  ■maif  be  expected  to  result  from 
the  destruction  of  death,  when  considered  under 
the  idea  of  a  person. 

When,  in  conformity  to  general  usage,  we  con- 
sider death  to  have  a  real  and  personal  existence,  we 
can  have  no  conception  how  he  can  be  partially  de- 

""being  injurious  and  unnecessary,  are  of  incalculable  service  to 
^the  cause  of  Christianity.  And,  instead  of  deserving  to  be  re- 
jected by  us,  they  are  entitled  to  our  warmest  approbation ; 
since  by  these  means  we  furnish  ourselves  with  weapons 
against  th^se,  who  call  in  question  the  authority  of  that  revelation 
to  which  we  appeal.  By  thus  taking  our  stand  in  one  common 
ground  with  the  adversaries  of  Christianity,  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  can  be  defended  upon  principles,  from  which  thej^ 
dare  not  dissent ;  while  the  additional  advantages  which  we 
derive  from  the  written  word,  mark  the  cause  which  we  have 
espoused  with  the  most  decided  superiority. 

P 


98         IDENTITY  AND  KESURRECTIQN      [Chap.  Ill* 

stroyed.  That  death  must  be  destroyed  when  mo- 
ral  evil  shall  be  done  away,  is  a  point  which  we  have 
already  attempted  to  prove ;  and  if  destroyed  by 
the  removal  of  moral  evil  from  the  righteous,  the 
effect  which  result  from  that  destruction  must  ex- 
tend to  the  utmost  bounds  of  human  nature ;  and 
consequently,  all  those  captive  millions  that  have 
been  held  in  his  cold  embrace,  must  be  liberated 
from  the  house  appointed  for  all  living,  through  a 
general  emancipation  which  the  destruction  of  death 
■\  must  impart. 

In  this  view,  however,  a  mere  restoration  to  life 
and  consciousness,  has  but  little  or  no  connection 
with  a  future  state  of  happiness  or  woe.  Rewards 
and  punishments  beyond  the  grave,  depend  not  upon 
physical  but  moral  causes  ;  and  therefore  must  be 
considered  in  a  distinct  light  from  a  simple  restora- 
tion to  life.  The  morality  and  immorality  of  hu- 
man actions,  must  \<\\\q.  to  the  moral  and  retribu- 
tive justice  of  (iod  ;  and  the  good  and  evil  which 
are  included  in  them,  arc  points  widi  which  these 
natural  causes  have  only  a  remote  affinity.  So  that, 
although  we  admit  that  a  resurrection  of  the  bodies 
of  the  wicked  shall  take  place;  yet  in  this  view  it 
appears  rather  as  a  consequence  of  the  resurrection 
of  those  of  the  righteous,  who  must  be  restored  to 
life  in  the  resurrection  of  the  just;  than  as  an  act 
which  is  primary  and  independent. 

Under  these  views,  the  life  to  which  all  human 
nature  sHall  be  restored,  can  be  considered  as  noth- 
ing more  than  a  restoration  to  a  state  of  anima- 
tion, which  is  equally  removed  from   an  alliance 


Sec.  III.]  t)F  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  -99 

with  punishment  and  rev/ard.  The  only  point, 
therefore,  under  present  consideration  is,  whether 
or  not  any  thing  shall  awaken  the  mouldering 
atoms  from  the  torpid  mass  of  matter,  and  call  them 
again  into  a  state  of  animation  which  shall  never 
end.  Rewards  and  punishments  will,  without  all 
doubt,  be  administered  individually,  and  every  man 
must  be  accountable  for  himself;  but  physical  causes 
act  upon  a  wider  principle,  and  are  of  universal 
application. 

That  death  shall  be  destroyed  by  the  annihilation 
of  moral  evil,  in  all  the  righteous,  has  been  already 
proved  ;  and  as  under  this  consideration,  we  have 
attributed  to  death  a  real  and  personal  existence, 
our  inquiry  is  almost  reducible  to  this  point,  can 
death  continue  to  exist,  after  he  has  been  destroyed. 

In  this  view,  which  now  lies  before  us,  we  must 
consider  death  in  the  character  of  an  universal  ty- 
rant, extending  his  gloomy  empire  over  the  captive 
millions  of  the  human  race.  Now,  under  this  con- 
sideration, should  any  cause  arise,  through  which 
the  tyrant  should  be  dethroned,  it  will  certainly 
follow  that  all  his  captives  must  be  released  from  his 
dark  dominions.  And,  if  tiiis  cause,  which  dis- 
solved the  empire,  should  both  detlirone  and  destroy 
the  tyrant ;  it  must  also  follow,  that  all  his  active 
energy  as  well  as  dominions  must  forthwith  be  at 
an  end.  And,  where  the  dominion  and  existence 
of  a  captor  shall  entirely  cease,  there  all  influence 
must  necessarily  discontinue  ;  and  nothing  further 
can  be  supposed  in  being  to  perpetuate  the  domi, 
nion  of  a  tyrant,  whose  empire  and  person  are  both 


iO©  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

destroyed.  For,  were  we  to  admit  that  the  influ- 
ence .of  death  could  survive  the  existence  of  death, 
we  must  suppose  it  to  be  an  effect  without  a  cause  ; 
and  we  must  be  obliged  to  conclude,  that  in  point 
of  duration,  he  survived  his  own  existence,  and  put 
forth  anenerg}'^  after  his'being  was  destroyed. 

If  the  bodies  of  all  the  dead,  rise  not  from  the 
grave,  when  death  is  destroyed ;  they  must  be  de- 
tained by  some  power  or  they  must  not.  If  by 
some  power,  it  is  evident  that  this  power  must  par- 
take of  death  ;  because  that  which  has  no  connec- 
tion with  death,  can  never  detain  the  fragments  of 
the  human  body,  in  a  state  of  dissolution,  which  is 
an  effect  of  de^th.  But  to  suppose,  that  the  power 
of  death  can  be  inherited,  when  both  his  person  and 
empire  are  presumed  to  be  destroyed  ;  and  that  the 
power  of  death  can  be  inherited  by  that  which  does 
not  partake  of  death,  will  involve  us  in  a  complica- 
tion of  contradictions.  It  therefore  follows,  that  the 
instant  we  suppose  the  body  to  be  detained  in  the 
grave,  which  is  a  state  of  death,  by  any  active  power, 
we  at  once  attribute  the  detaining  power  to  death  ; 
while  we  detach  it  from  him,  through  that  destruc- 
tion which  we  had  previously  admitted ;  and  sup- 
pose a  connexion  to  subsist  between  that  which  is, 
and  that  which  we  admit  to  have  been  destroyed. 
In  short,  it  is  to  attribute  the  detaining  power  to 
death,  and  not  to  attribute  it  to  him,  at  the  same 
time ;  which  is  a  palpable  contradiction. 

But  if,  on  the  contrary,  the  bodies  of  the  dead 
are  detained  in  the  grave  by  710  power  ;  the  argu- 
ment defeats  the  purpose  forwhich  it  was  brought^ 


Sect.  III. J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  101 

and  operates  in  favour  of  a  resurrection  from  the 
dead.  For,  since  that  which  is  divested  of  power 
can  produce  no  effects;  to  suppose  that  the  re- 
surrection of  the  body  can  be  prevented  through  a 
mere  negation,  is  to  suppose  it  to  be  detained  in 
the  grave  by  a  nonentity.  Since,  therefore,  those 
bodies  which  are  detained  by  nothing,  must  cer- 
tainly be  free  ;  all  external  causes  of  their  confine- 
ment must  be  done  away ;  and  they  must  finally- 
come  forth  to  partake  of  that  general  discharge  from 
the  grave,  which  shall  follow  the  destruction  of 
death,  and  the  annihilation  of  moral, evil  in  all  the 
saints  of  God. 

If  death,  who  is  still  considered  in  a  personal 
view,  shall  be  destroyed  by  some  cause  ;  both  the 
benefits  and  evils  which  result  from  that  destruction, 
must  be  of  general  application,  and  must  extend  to 
those  individuals  who  had  no  share  whatever  in  his 
destruction.  / 

To  illustrate  this,  let  us  suppose  a  given  case. 
Let  us  suppose  that  A  extends  an  influence  over  C 
and  D,  by  which  both  Cand  D  are  held  in  captivity 
to  A,  In  this  case,  if  A  be  destroyed  by  By  it 
must  follow,  even  with  demonstrative  certainty, 
that  A  can  never  extend  its  influence  over  either  C 
or  Z),  after  it  has  been  destroyed  by  i5,  even  though 
C  and  D  did  not  concur  in  the  destruction  of  A, 
And  to  suppose  C  and  D  to  remain  in  captivity  to 
Ay  after  A  had  been  destroyed  by  By  is  to  suppose 
that  C  and  D  remain  in  captivity  to  a  nonentity  ; 
and  that  they  are  now  detained  by  a  power  which  is 


•102        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  HI. 

admitted  to  be  destroyed.  But  since  that  which  is 
detained  by  nothing  must  be  freed  from  all  captivi- 
ty ;  neither  Cnor  Z),  can  any  longer  be  detained  in 
their  stations,  or  prevented  from  starting  up  into 
immortal  life. 

It  will  in  this,  place  probably  be  said  :  "  That 
though  the  influence  of  death  should  be  withdrawn, 
yet  it  will  not  follow  that  the  body  must  rise  again. 
For,  being  in  itself  destitute  of  active  energy,  the 
mere  removal  of  the  influence  of  death  will  still 
leave  it  in  a  torpid  state."  This  objection  is  of 
some  weight,  and  requires  much  attention. 

We  have  already  presumed,  that  death  hos  ex- 
tended  an  influence  over  the  human  race,  and  we 
are  now  supposing  this  influence  to  be  withdrawn  ; 
therefore  unless  some  considerable  changes  fellow 
the  removal  of  this  influence,  influence  and  no  influ- 
ence must  be  tlie  same.  But,  to  make  influence 
and  no  influence  to  be  the  same,  is  even  to  reduce 
the  influence  of  death  to  a  nonentity.  And,  in  addi- 
tion to  this,  it  will  follow,  that  if  the  influence  of 
death  be  a  mere  nonentity,  no  necessity  can  appear 
either  for  its  application  or  removal ;  because  nei- 
the  the  application  nor  the  removal  of  any  nonentity 
can  possibly  affect  that  subject  to  which  it  is  appli, 
ed,  or  produce  those  effects  which  we  attribute  to 
death.  In  short,  an  influence  which  may  be  either 
appned  or  withdrawn  without  producing  any  change, 
must  be  one  that  is  uninfluencing  ;  and  an  uninfiu- 
encing  influence  is  a  contradiction  in  terms. 

That  death,  or  something  which  we  call  deaths 


Sect.  Ill]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  103 

in  ivhat  light  soever  zve  maij  viezv  if,  forms  either 
the  termination,  or  an  important  epoch  in  human 
existence,  is  a  truth  which  it  is  equally  useless  to 
prove  or  to  deny.  We  behold  it  in  those  awful  hours 
of  human  desolation,  which  daily  take  place  ;  and 
we  discover  as  its  invariable  result,  some  of  the 
most  astonishing  changes  which  the  human  body, 
according  to  our  present  organs  of  perception,  can 
undergo.  The  depositaries  of  the  dead,  present 
us  with  a  view  of  our  departed  ancestors  ;  and  ev- 
ery charnel-house  furnishes  us  with  more  than  de- 
monstrative evidence,  that  those  changes  are  cer- 
tain which  we  must  shortly  experience. 

In  a  preceding  chapter  and  section,  it  has  been 
contended  that  both  death,  and  that  dissolution  of 
the  body  which  succeeds  to  death,  are  the  necessary' 
and  natural  effects  of  moral  evil ;  and  that  they* 
result  as  natural  consequences  from  tl\e  removal  of 
the  tree  of  life.  The  progressive  movements  of 
these  natural  effects,  we  perceive  through  every 
stage  of  human  being,  from  the  cradle  to  the  grave  ; 
while  iYi  that  subsequent  dissolution  of  our  bodies 
which  succeeds  to  death,  we  trace  the  ultimate  sep- 
aration of  all  their  visible  parts. 

But,  how  regular  and  progressive  soever  these 
effects  may  be  produced,  through  the  operation 
of  moral  evil,  the  primary  cause  of  all ;  we  behold, 
in  that  awful  moment,  which  lies  on  the  verare  of 
time,  and  divides  it  from  the  ocean  of  etemity,  in 
which  the  soul  and  body  are  separated  from  each 
other.     An  important  crisis,  which  suddenly   pro- 


104      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  III. 

duces  an  important  change !  In  this  awful  moment, 
life  retires,  and  death  usurps  its  place ;  animation 
ceases  in  an  instant ;  vitality  disappears,  and  the 
immaterial  spirit,  dislodged  from  its  habitation, 
repairs  immediately  to  a  state  of  certainty,  to  anti- 
cipate the  destiny  that  awaits  it  in  another  world. 
By  what  peculiar  application  of  power  this  change 
is  wrought,  is  a  question  that  forms  no  part  of  our 
present  inquiiy ;  it  is  sufficient  for  us  to  know  that 
this  actually  takes  place,  and  that  it  cannot  be  ac- 
complished by  a  viei^e  nonentity. 

If  then  those  changes  to  which  we  refer  are  in 
actual  existence,  and  these  changes  cannot  be  pro- 
duced by  a  nonentity,  because  a  nonentity  can  pro- 
duce no  effects ;  it  follows  that  some  active  influx 
ence  must  be  admitted  to  exist,  to  produce  those 
changes  which  we  discover  taking  place  in  death. 
In  what  light  soever  death  may  appear  unto  us,  whe- 
ther with  an  existence  that  is  positive,  or  only  re- 
lative ;  we  have  demonstrative  evidence  that  the 
influence  exercised  on  the  occasion,  is  not  uninflu- 
encing ;  and  consequently,  we  are  satisfactorily  as- 
sured that  it  cannot  be  a  nonentity. 

Can  then  that  influence,  which  produces  such 
important  changes,  and  which  since  it  separates 
soul  and  body  cannot  be  a  nonentity,  be  finally 
removed  by  a  nonentity  ?  or,  can  we  possibly  sup- 
pose  that  the  mere  removal  of  an  entity  is  a  non- 
entity in  itself  ?  If  so,  action,  and  the  reverse  of 
action  must  be  the  same ;  and  entity  and  nonentity 
can  have  nothing  to  distinguish  them  from  each 


Sect.  111.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  103 

Other ;  in  this  case  the  removal  of  a  positive  influ- 
ence, and  the  removal  of  nothing  must  be  alike, 
since  the  term  nonentity  will  equally  apply  to  both. 
And  hence,  since  the  conclusion  undeniably  follows, 
we  may  be  assured  that  the  principle  itself  must 
necessarily  be  false,  which  breaks  down  all  distinc- 
tions between  entity  and  nonentity,  and  blends  to- 
gether without  any  discrimination,  that  which  is, 
and  that  which  is  not. 

If  then  the  removal  of  an  entity,  cannot  be  in  itself 
a  nonentity,  nor  effected  by  one  ;  some  consider- 
able change  must  be  produced  by  the  application 
of  that  energy,  through  which  the  influence  of  death 
will  be  removed.  And  certain  it  is  that  the  change 
will  be  considerable,  in  proportion  to  the  magnitude 
of  that  influence  which  is  removed  by  this  adequate 
cause,  whatever  may  be  its  nature.  As  therefore, 
the  influence  which  death  extended,  produced  those 
effects  w^hich  we  discover,  in  the  separation  of  soul 
and  body,  and  in  the  final  dissolution  of  the  bodily 
parts,  so  this  counteracting  energy  (which  cannot 
be  a  nonentity)  must  produce  effects  congenial  to 
its  own  nature.  And,  as  the  destruction  of  death, 
is  one  of  those  effects  which  must  result  from  the 
removal  of  moral  evil,  the  intrinsic  nature  pf  this 
counteracting  energy  must  manifest  itself  in  re- 
uniting the  soul  and  body,  when  death  shall  be  no 
more.  Therefore,  as  the  influence  of  death  pro- 
duced by  its  operations,  the  dissolution  of  the  hu- 
man body ;  this  adequate  cause  through  which 
the  influence  of  death  is  removed,  must  counter- 


106  IDENtlTY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IIL 

act  the  effects  of  that  influence  which  it  destroys, 
and  finally  result  in  the  resurrection  of  the  body 
from  the  grave,  as  an  inevitable  consequence. 

From  these  reasonings,  which  have  been  advanc- 
ed in  the  preceding  paragraphs,  it  will  follow  by  a 
natural  inference,  that  when  the  influence  is  totally 
removed,  the  body  cannot  remain  in  a  state  of  torpor. 
For,  as  that  influence,  through  which  the  body  had 
been  reduced  to  a  state  of  dissolution,  could  not  be 
a  nonentity ;  so  the  cause  through  which  this  influ- 
ence is  counteracted,  must  be  adnlilted  to  have  a 
similar  state  of  existence ;  because  those  effects, 
which  we  behold  on  death  and  dissolution,  can  only 
be  counteracted  by  an  active  energy.  Now,  as  all 
influence,  in  the  natmre  of  things,  must  produce  some 
effect  to  be  entitled  to  that  appellation ;  so  this 
counteracting  energy  produces  its  effects  also,  in 
the  removal  of  the  irf^uence  of  death.  And,  as  the 
eflfects  produced  by  the  influence  of  death,  were 
torpor  and  inactivity  ;  so  the  effects  produced  by 
this  energy,  through  which  the  influence  of  death 
shall  be  removed,  must  be  the  reverse,  wnich  is  a 
destruction  of  torpor  and  inactivity.  They  must 
therefore  finally  issue  in  a  restoration  of  the  body 
to  animation  and  vigour;  and  consequently,  in  a 
resurrection  of  the  body  from  the  sleep  of  death. 
For,  as  a  separation  of  soul  and  body  is  the  imme- 
diate effect  of  death  (or  probably  is  death  itself)  so 
the  removal  of  it  must  be  a  reunion  of  both,  since 
nothing  less  can  be  the  reverse.  And  as,  by  its 
disunion  from  the  soul,  the  body  had  been  reduced 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  W7 

to  a  state  of  corruption,  and  its  component  parts 
had  been  dissolved  and  separated  frotti  one  another ; 
so,  in  order  to  effect  the  reunion  of  soul  and  body, 
the  body  must  be  restored  to  life  and  activity  ;  and, 
since  death  is  presumed  to  be  no  more,  life  and 
activity  must  necessarily  put  on  immortal  vigour. 

The  primary  source  of  all  our  calamities,  in  what 
form  soever  they  assail  us,  must  be  moral  evil ;  and 
the  fatal  succession  which  appears  to  take  place  in 
those  changes  which  we  undergo,  seems  to  proceed 
in  the  following  order.  Moral  evil  produces  death, 
death,  which  either  produces,  or  consists  in  a  sepa- 
ration of  soul  and  body,  produces  torpor,  and  this 
finally  issues  in  tlie  separation  of  the  component 
bodily  parts.  And  whether  we  begin  at  the  primary 
cause,  which  is  moral  evil,  and  trace  onward  to  its 
remotest  consequences,  or  begin  at  the  remotest 
consequence,  and  trace  upward  to  its  primary  cause, 
all  our  inquiries  must  centre  in  moral  evil ;  and  we 
must  view  it  as  the  real  parent  and  legitimate  source 
of  all  those  natural  evils*  and  calamities  which  af- 
flict the  human  race. 

*  On  the  moral  consequences  of  moral  evil,  much  may  he 
said  to  distinguish  them  from  those  natural  "evils,  of  which  I 
have  spoken  But,  these  consequences  can  have  little  or  no 
connection  with  those  physical  causes,  which  I  have  been  at- 
tempting to  investigate.  They  will  undoubtedly  remain  as 
punishments  to  the  individuals,  to  whom  they  apply  ;  but  we  can 
have  no  conception  of  any  punishment  which  includes  eternal 
inertness  and  unconscious  inactivity.  A  resurrection  therefore 
to  immortal  vigour,  and  perpetual  life,  seems  to  follow  from 
the  above  principle  ;  and  all  individuals  both  good  and  bad, 
Tnust  rise  from  their  graves  to  receive  their  respective  rewards, 


108        IDENTITY  AND  RESUBRECTION  [Chap.IH. 
SECTION  IV. 

O71  the  effects  zvhich  may  be  expected  to  result  from 
the  annihilation  of  deaths    zvhen  considered  as 
having  only  a  relative  existence*     Probation  con- 
fined to  the  present  state. 

That  the  human  body  in  the  moment  of  its  sep- 
aration from  its  immortal  partner,  and  also  in  all  the 
subsequent  stages  of  its  dissolution,  must  undergo 

We  are  told  expressly  in  the  book  of  God,  that  all  that  are 
in  the  graves  shall  come  forth  ;  they  that  have  done  good  to  the 
resurrection  of  life.,  and  they  that  have  done  evil  unto  the  resur- 
rection  of  damnation. 

The  degrees  of  punishment  due  to  lapsed  intelligences,  seem, 
however,  to  arise  not  from  physical,  but  moral  causes;  and 
they  must  perpetually  remain  in  close  connection  with  the  mo- 
ral justice  of  God.  In  what  manner  the  morality  and  immo- 
rality of  human  actions  arc  to  be  precisely  estimated,  is  hardly 
a  branch  of  the  human  province ;  it  rather  appears  to  be  a 
question,  which  in  all  probability  is  too  vast  for  the  mind  of 
man  to  grasp.  It  is  sufficient,  that  God  has  pointed  out  both 
our  privileges  and  our  duties  ;  apd  we  rest  ourselves  assured 
that  the  Judge  of  the- whole  earth,  unable  to  act  inconsistently 
■with  his  nature,  tnust  dispense  justice  with  an  impartial  hand, 
and  therefore  must  do  right ;  so  that  individuals  as  well  as 
nations  must  ultimately  acknowledge  that  rectitude,  which 
regulates  his  ways,  both  in  time  and  in  eternity.  And,  though 
difficulties,  which  seem  inexplicable,  involve  the  moral  econo- 
my of  God,  in  his  government  of  the  universe  ;  yet  he  has  in 
the  midst  of  our  blindness,  communicated  to  us  a  sufficiency  of 
information,  through  which  vye  see  that  these  difficulties  which 
encircle  us,  arise  not  from  the  imperfection  of  his  ways,  but 
from  the  litnited  state  of  the  human  intellect,  which  must  neces- 
sarily be  unable  to  comprehend,  or  even  to  penetrate  the  com- 
plicated parts  of  the  amazing  whole. 


Sect.  I  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  109 

considerable  changes,  it  is  needless  in  this  plar.e 
either  to  repeat  or  prove.  The  certainty  of  those 
facts,  to  which  I  allude,  even  more  than  demon- 
strate that  death,  or  something  to  which  we  annex 
that  desolating  appellation,  must  have  some  kind  of 
existence ;  because  that  which  is  a  mere  nonentity 
can  never  act ;  and  consequently,  can  never  pro- 
duce those  effects,  which  we  behold  in  the  dissolu- 
tion of  the  human  frame.  The  existence  of  death 
must  therefore  be  either  real  and  personal^  or  rela- 
tive and  dependent^  or  a  mere  privation  ;  these  be- 
ing the  only  modes  of  possible  existence  which  we 
can  conceive. 

In  the  preceding  section,  we  have  supposed,  in 
conformity  to  the  general  usage,  and  poetical  de- 
scription, that  death,  in  a  personal  capacity,  extend- 
ed his  destructive  dominion  over  the  human  race ; 
and  that  his  {personal  destruction,  together  with  the 
ruin  of  his  empire,  must  issue  in  tht  emancipaiion 
of  those,  on  whom  he  had  laid  his  iron  hand. 

But,  whether  death  have  a  real^  or  only  a  relative 
existence^  or  whether  we  consider  it  in  no  other 
light  than  that  of  a  mere  privation  ;  the  reasonings 
which  have  been  brought  to  prove  that  it  must  be 
destroyed,  when  moral  evil  shall  be  done  away,  I 
flatter  myself  will  equally  apply  ;  and  clearly  prove 
in  either  case,  that  as  moral  evil  must  be  its  primary 
and  its  only  source,  the  bounds  of  its  duration  must 
be  fixed ;  and  that  its  total  destruction  is  necessa- 
rily connected  with  a  state  of  future  rewards.  A 
difference  may  indeed  be  produced  in  our  abstract 


110        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  111. 

notion  of  death,  by  the  additional  idea  of  personifi- 
cation, which  we  have  already  introduced  ;  but 
when  we  divest  our  mind's  of  those  extraneous 
ideas,  and  consider  death,  abstractedly  from  all  fo- 
reign circumstances,  as  a  separation  of  soul  and 
body,  and  as  (he  period  of  our  existence  here  below  ; 
the  final  result  of  our  reasonings  will  be  the  same. 
And  though  the  additional  idea  of  person,  should 
be  omitted,  all  I  have  attributed  to  death  ^^ill  be 
applicable  to  the  thing  itself;  and  with  the  variation 
of  a  few  circumstances,  will  be  the  same  under 
every  consideration  in  point  of  fact. 

That  de.ith  is  but  relative,  and  therefore  destitute 
of  all  positive  existenee,  is  with  me  a  matter  of  full 
conviction  ;  and  therefore  personality  is  but  a  su- 
perfluous idea,  purely  imaginary,  and  totally  inap- 
plicable in  point  of  fact.  The  changes  which  hu- 
man nature,  in  the  hour  of  departure,  undergoes, 
are  self- evident,  and  will  therefore  admit  of  no  dis- 
pu'^e  ;  it  is  the  personification  of  death  only  which  is 
not  admitted,  and  which  in  reality  can  have  no  exist- 
ence. And  therefore,  whether  the  idea  of  personifi- 
cation be  retained  or  dismissed  from  our  notion  of 
death,  as  it  has  no  necessary  connection  with  those 
changes  which  death  produces  ;  the  influence  which 
we  have  supposed,  and  which  we  constantly  per- 
ceive, must  remain  precisely  the  same.  And  from 
hence  it  is  evident,  that  whether  the  idea  of  person 
be  real  or  only  imaginary,  the  reasonings  which  I 
have  advanced  in  favour  of  its  being  dependent  upon 
moral  evil  for  its  existence,   retain  ail  theh*  forcc« 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  lU 

Since  therefore^  alJ  that  influence  which  death  pos- 
sesses, and  which  it  extends  over  the  human  body,  is 
derived  from  moral  evil ;  death,  whf  flier  real  or  rela- 
tive^ whether  personal  or  only  a  mere  pi'ix  ation^  can 
have  no  further  existence  after  moral  evil  is  done 
away. 

If  the  existence  of  death  be  only  relative,  and 
therefore  one  with  which  the  idea  of  person  can 
have,  no  connection,  which  must  be  admitted;  it 
will  involve  a  contradiction  to  suppose  that  it  can 
survive  the  cause  which  gave  it  birth,  and  on  whch 
it  must  be  dependent  for  its  mode  of  existence. 
For,  if  we  were  to  presume  that  it  could  survive  the 
cause  which  gave  it  birth,  and  upon  which  it  must 
continually  depend  ;  it  w  ill  no  longer  be  a  relation, 
but  a  positive  being.  And,  to  suppose  that  any 
thing  can  have  a  positive  existence^  which  is^admit- 
ted  to  be  but  a  mere  relation,  is  to  suppose  that  it 
is  a  relation  and  not  a  relation  at  the  same  time. 
As  therefore,  the  cause  of  death  is  moral  evil,  and 
moral  evil  must  be  destroyed  to  qualify  the  righte- 
ous for  future  rewards,  as  has  been  already  proved  ; 
the  inevitable  consequence  must  be  the  destruction 
of  death  ;  and,  as  death  has  only  a  relative  exis- 
tence, its  destruction  must  finally  issue  in  future 
life. 

Whatever  exists  relatively  must,  from  the  circum- 
stances of  its  being,  necessarily  be  in  a  dependent 
state ;  and  we  can  no  more  conceive  that  a  mere  re- 
lation can  exist  abstractedly  from  that  subject  from 
which  it  derives  its  being ;  than  we  can  conceive  a 
shadow  to  exist  when  its  only  occasion  is  totally  de- 


J 12       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  IIL 

stroycd.  When  therefore,  the  parent  of  all  natu- 
ral evil  shall  be  removed,  returning  life  must  fill 
up  the  dreary  blank,  and  human  nature  must  again 
revive  from  the  grave. 

Now  will  the  case  appear  less  favourable  to  the 
general  resurrection  of  the  human  race,  if  we  consi* 
der  death,  in  the  ihird  placcy  in  the  light  of  a  mere 
privation.  In  short,  a  mere  privation  in  this  view, 
is  but  a  branch  of  relative  existence,  and  is  there- 
fore connected  with  it.  The  same  observations 
will  apply  in  both  cases,  and  the  destruction  of 
death,  whether  considered  either  as  a  mere  relatioji 
or  as  a  privation  of  any  particular  mode  of  life,  must 
be  the  destruction  of  this  relation,  or  that  of  the 
privation ;  and  consequently  that  which  destroys 
nxy  privation  of  life  restores  me  again  to  animated 
existence,  and  banishes  forever  that  privation  in 
which  my  death  consisted. 

If  a  privation  of  life  date  its  origin  from  any  given 
cause;  it' is  certain,  whatever  the  nature  of  that 
cause  may  be,  that  it  can  only  have  a  dependent 
kind  of  existence ;  and  that  it  can  continue  no  lon- 
ger in  existence,  than  it  is  supported  by  that  cause, 
on  which  it  depends.  And,  as  the  removal  of  that 
cause  must  destroy  all  dependencies,  even  the  pri- 
vation of  life  must  perish,  an^  consequently,  where 
the  absence  of  privation  of  life  is  not  to  be  found, 
life  itself  must  be  in  a  state  of  actual  existence.  It 
therefore  follows,  that  the  destruction  of  death  must 
be  a  restoration  unto  life,  and  a  restoration  of  human 
nature  from  the  grave. 

Nor  will  it  be  of  any  avail  to  say  that  death  itself 


S«ct.  IV.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  US 

is  but  a  mere  7iegat>{on.^^  The  destruction  of  a 
negation  must  be  the  pioduction  of  positive  being ; 
and  it  is  only  by  the  introduction  of  the  latter,  that 
the  former  can  be  effected.  The  removal  of  dark- 
ness is  the  introduction  of  light ;  and  we  can  no 
more  conceive  that  a  medium  state  can  exist  be- 
tween them,  in  which  neither  light  nor  darkness 
makes  its  appearance,  and  actually  exists  ;  than 
we  can  conceive  how  any  given  portion  of  space 
can  be  deprived  of  being,  or  that  matter  can  exist 
without  figure  or  extension.  As  therefore  there 
can  be  no  medium,  between  the  absence  and  pre^ 
sence  of  any  given  subject  or  idea  ;  it  follows,  that 
the  removal  of  the  one  must  be  the  introduction  of 
the  other,  just  as  the  removal  of  light  must  be  the 
introduction  of  darkness,  as  an  inevitable  conse- 
quence. If  then  the  privation  of  life  is  the  identic 
cal  act  which  introduces  death,  so  the  removal  of 
this  privation  of  life  must  be  the  removal  of  death; 
and  the  removal  of  death  must  be  that  very  identical 
act  which  restores  to  life. 

The  removal  of  a  negation  must  be  the  introduc- 
tion of  the  reverse  ;  without  this  no  removal  of  a 
negation  can  be  supposed.  If  then  death  be  a  ne- 
gation of  life,  and  this  negation  be  removed  ;  if  the 
removal  of  this  negation  be  the  identical  act  which 
introduces  the  reverse  ;  it  follows,  that  the  removal 
of  death  is  the  removal  of  the  absence  of  life,  and 
is,  consequently,  the  very  act  through  which  life 
must  be  restored. 

Now,  since  this  privation  of  life,  which  h^s  in 


1 1 4  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

iiLimeroiis  instances  already  X^ken  place,  and  must 
ultimately  take  place  upon  all  the  descendants  of 
Adam,  must  be  occasioned  by  some  cause  ;  it  must 
necessarily  be  dependent ;  because  it  will  involve 
us  in  a  contradiction,  to  suppose  that  a  mere  nega- 
tion can  exist  in  any  other  mode.  If  therefore,  the 
privatwjt  of  life  be  dependent,  and  dependent  upon 
that  cause  which  first  called  it  into  being;  the 
destruction  of  this  cause  must  necessarily  occasion 
the  destruction  of  this  privation  of  life ;  and  the 
instant  in  which  it  perishes,  it  must  give  place  to 
that  life  which  is  the  reverse.  For,  since  in  the  con- 
sideration now  before  us,  the  reverse  of  life  must 
be  no  life  or  the  privation  of  lije,  so,  the  annihila- 
tion of  this  no  lije^  or  privation  of  life,  must  be  the 
identical  act  which  restores  life ;  it  therefore  fol- 
lows that  the  bodies  of  the  dead  must  be  set  at  lib- 
erty, and,  freed  from  all  captivity,  must  start  forth 
into  immortal  life. 

But,  how  forcible  soever  these  arguments  and 
modes  of  reasoning  may  appear,  like  the  subject 
to  which  they  are  applied ;  they  are  purely  of  a 
dependent  nature.  The  destruction  of  death  has 
been  presumed  from  first  to  last  to  depend  upon 
the  annihilation  of  moral  evil ;  and  this  has  been 
uniformly  inferred  from  the  certainty  of  future 
rewards,  the  redemption  of  Jesus  Christ,  and  the 
nature  of  that  moral  justice,  which  is  at  once  immu- 
table and  inseparable  from  God.  There  is,  how- 
ever, another  source  of  argument,  to  which  we  have 
hitherto  made  no  application ;  namely,  the  nature  of 


Sect.  IV.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  U$ 

probationary  existence^  which  may  probably  afford 
us  some  additional  assurances  that  moral  evil  must 
be  done  away.  To  this  po'mt  we  therefore  beg 
leave  to  call  the  attention  of  the  reader ;  and  with 
the  remarks  which  may  be  made  upon  it  we  shall 
close  the  present  section. 

That  moral  evil  does  exist,  is  a  fact  which,  I  flat- 
ter myself,  few  vviir  have  the  hardihood  to  deny. 
And  it  is  almost  equally  certain,  from  the  analogy 
of  the  divine  conduct,  and  from  the  nature  of  moral 
justice,  that  moral  evil  must  be  confined  to  the  pre- 
sent probationary  srate  of  existence,  for  beyond 
this  we  can  have  no  conception  that  it  can  retain  its 
present  relation  to  man. 

Between  a  state  of  probation  and  a  state  of  retri- 
bution, 1  know  of  no.medmm,  that  can  be  supposed 
to  exist  to  a  conscious  and  reflecting  being ;  though 
it  must  be  admitted,  that  these  two  states  are  as  re- 
mote from  each  other  as  the  mind  of  man  can  rea- 
sonably conceive.     A  state  of  retribution  must  be 
subsequent  to  a  state  of  probation ;    because  it  is 
founded  upon  a  cognizance  of  those  actions,  which 
are  presumed  to  have  taken  place  in  that  previous 
probationary  state  of  being.     And  hence  arises  the 
impossibility  of  our  conceiving  that  these  two  dis- 
tinct states  can  exist  together  in  regard  to  the  same 
pei'son^  in  the  sa?ne  plu'ce^    and  at  the  same  time. 
And,  as  a  state  of  probation   looks  forward  imme- 
diately to  a  state  of  retribution,  and  a  state  of  retri- 
bution looks  backward  to  that   which   was  broba- 
tionary ;  a  medium  condition,   which  partakes  not 


116      rDENTI'lT  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  Ill, 

either  of  the  formeror  of  the, latter,  becomes  impos- 
sibie,  and  therefore  can  have  no  existence. 
.  If  no  state  of  retribution  shall  succeed  to  a  state 
of  probation  :  that  being  who  is  presumed  to  be  a 
probationer  must  be  a  probationer  for  nothing-, 
which  involves  a  contradiction,  by  making  that 
being  a  probationer  and  not  a  probationer  at  the 
same  time.  And  if,  on  the  contrary,  we  invert  the 
order  of  our  thoughts,  and  suppose  that  no  proba- 
tionary state  preceded  a  state  of  retribution;  our  idea 
of  retribution  is  either  destroyed  or  involved  in  a  con- 
tradiction. For,  to  suppose  a  state  of  retribution 
which  had  not  been  preceded  by  a  state  of  trial,  is  to 
suppose  that  it  is  a  state  of  retribution,  and  not  a 
state  of  retribution  at  the  same  time.  Since  there- 
fore, both  of  these  cases  will  conduct  us  to  a  contra- 
diction ;  it  follows,  that  these  states  must  be  respec- 
tively admitted  in  their  own  order,  that  the  one  can- 
not exist  without  the  other,  but  that  in  the  same 
subject  they  cannot  possibly  meet  together. 
'  If  man,  while  in  a  future  state  of  retribution,  be 
still  in  a  state  of  probation  ;  it  follows  with  the  most 
unquestionable  certainty,  that  he  must  eitlier  be  a 
probationer  for  nothing,  or  that  his  present  state  of 
I'etributton  cannot  be  eternal ;  because  if  we  admit 
that  state  of  l^etribution  to  be  eternal,  there  can  be 
nothing  future  to  which  probation  can  possibly  refer. 
To  suppose  that  a  future  state  of  retribution  will 
not  be  eternal,  is  to  suppose  that  the  m(>ral  justice 
of  God  can  visit  abstractedly  from  its  own  conse- 
«^uences ;  and  that  an  attribute,  which  is  essential 
to  an  infinite  being,   can  be  finite  in  its  operations  ; 


Sect.  IV.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  117 

that  successive  duration  can  exist  in  eternity,  and 
apply  to  God  when  time  shall  be  destroyed ; — 
and  that  there  can  be  a  period  in  its  successive  du- 
ration, beyond  which  the  moral  and  retributive  jus- 
tice, of  God  shall  cease  to  operate.  But,  since 
these  suppositions  will,  beyond  that  period  in  suc- 
cessive duration,  leave  moral  and  retributive  justice, 
existing  in  theory,  totally  without  the  practical  con- 
sequences which  are  inseparable  from  its  nature  | 
which  is  supposing  retributive  justice  to  exist  with- 
out retribution,  which  is  justice  and  no  justice  at  the 
saine  time ;  it  follows,  that  a  state  of  retribution 
must  necessarily  be  eternal.  As  therefore  a  state  of 
retribution  must  be  eternal ;  and  since  no  man  can 
be  a  probationer  while  he  is  a  probationer  for  no. 
thing,  because  it  involves  a  contradiction  which  has 
been  already  noticed  ;  it  follows  also,  that  a  state 
of  retribution  and  a  state  of  probation  cannot  exist 
together  in  relation  to  the  same  person.  And 
from  hence  we  muist  infer,  -that,  in  relation  tb  man, 
where  retribution  begins  probation  ends ;  and  there- 
fore death  must  necessarily  be  that  point,  which 
changes  our  mode  of  existence,  and  conducts  us 
from  a  state  of  probation  to  that  state  of  retribution 
which  must  be  eiernal. 

If  the  spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  enjoying 
the  felicities  of  heaven,  either  before  or  after  that  a 
resurrection  shall  have  taken  place,  be  in  a  state  of 
probation,  a  Ml  from  the  regions  of  glory  must  be 
possible ;  because  the  idea  for  which  the  term  pro- 
bation stands,  implies  a  condition  which  leaves  us 


118        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  III. 

free  to  depart  from  what  is  right.  For,  where 
there  is  no  possibility  to  depart  from  good  to  evil 
in  a  probationary  state,  there  no  distinction  between 
vice  and  virtue  can  practically  be  known ;  and  con- 
sequently a  moral  agent,  thus  placed,  can  neither  be 
subjected  to  any  future  punishment,  nor  undergo 
anv  preparation  for  any  future  reucird. 

.On  the  contrary,  if  we  turn  our  thoughts  from  a 
state  of  happiness  to  a  state  of  woe,  while  we  retain 
tlie  idea  that  a  state  of  probation  may  exist  to  man 
beyond  the  graven;-  it  must  then  follow,  that  lapsed 
intelligences  cannot  be  placed  in  the.exticnie  of  mi- 
sery, nor  lodged  beyond,  the  reach  of  possifik  re- 
storation.. Their  staj^e,  however  dreadful,  must  be 
exempted  from  despair,  that  last  and  j^Teatest  of  hu- 
man ills ;  nay,  the  supposition  goes  much  further, 
and  makes  it  possible  that  virtue  may  grow  in  the 
regions  of  eternal  woe.  For,  certain  it  is,  U^at  as  a 
state  of  probation  implies  the  possibility  of  a  de- 
parture from  bliss,  so  the  same  state  implies  a  pos- 
sibility, on  the  contrary,  of  a  delivercnce  from  woe. 
A  state  of  probation  looks  forward  t9  some  retribu- 
tipn,  and  if  those  who  inherit  future  misery  are  pro- 
bationers, that  state  which  they  inherit  cannot  be 
eternal.  But,  since  this  conclusion  is  contrary  to 
what  has  been  already  proved  ;  since  it  involves  the 
moral  and  retributive  justice  of  God,  and  leads  im- 
mediately to  those  contradictions  which  have  been 
already  noticed ;  we  are  compelled  finally  to  con- 
clude, that  no  probationary  state  c»n  survive   the 


Sec.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  J 19 

grave,  or  exist  in  respect  to  man  in  a  state  of  future 
retribu*ion. 

That  the  present  is  a  state  of  probation,  is  per- 
haps a  truth  so  clear,  that  all  attempts  to  support  it 
by  argument  must  be  deemed  superfluous  ;  I  shall 
therefore  assume  it  as  ,an  admitted  point.  And,  as 
probation  looks  inio  futurity  for  some  retribution, 
we  must  be  probationers  for  that  life  which  lies  be- 
yond the  grcive.  In  that  state  we  must  be  ac- 
countable for  the  actions  of  the  present  life ;  and 
receive  that  retribution  which  flows  from  the  moral 
justice  of  God.  As,  therefore,  retribution  and  pro- 
bation are  incompatible  with  each  other  in  the  same 
state  ;  and,  as  in  a  future  state  retribution  must 
exist ;  It  follows,  that  the  present  stale  of  probation 
shall  be  done  away  to  make  room  for  those  rewards 
and  punishments,  which  are  the  moral  consequences 
of  our  actions  in  the  present  life. 

That  a  state  of  probation  is  necessary  to  the  ex- 
istence of  moral  evil,  is  so  obvious,  that  the  instant 
we  suppose  the  contrary,  we  impute  its  origin  to 
God.  Between  choice  and  necessity  there  can  be 
no  medium  toman,  in  all  those  actions  which  are 
of  a  moral  nature.  Those  which  originate  in  the 
former,  demonstrate  a  probationary  state ;  and 
those  which  originate  in  the  latter  ;  can  entitle  the 
creature  to  neither  praise  nor  blame.  As,  then,  a 
probationary  state  must  be  done  away,  and  must 
cease  with  our  present  state  of  being,  we  can  have 
no  conception  that  moral  evil  can  continue  to  exist, 


120       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION.    [Chap.  III. 

when  that  state  which  was  absolutely  necessary  to 
its  existence  shall  be  no  more. 

If  moral  evil  can  exist  in  a  state  which  is  not  pro- 
bationary, which  must  be  admitted  if  it  exist  beyond 
the  grave,  it  must  exist  without  any  discriminating 
criterion,  by  which  the  morality  and  immorality  of 
actions  can  be  distinguished  from  each  other ;  or 
we  must  presume,  that  the  montl  law  must  be  trans- 
planted into  a  future  state.  In  the  former  case,  we 
must  suppose  transgression  to  exist  where  there  is 
no  law,  which  is  unjust ;  and  in  the  latter,  we  must 
suppose,  that  even  a  state  of  retribution  is  proba- 
tionary, which  has  been  already  proved  to  be  ab- 
surd. If  then,  the  latter  of  these  cases  involve  a 
contradiction,  and  the  former  be  unjust ;  if  no  trans- 
gression can  exist  where  there  is  no  law ;  and  if  a 
probationary  state  cannot  be  a  state  of  retribution ; 
it  follows,  that  moral  evil  must  be  confined  to  a  pro- 
bationary state.  For,  could  we  only  imagine  that 
moral  evil  could  be  determined  to  exist,  without 
the  violation  of  those  laws  which  are  peculiarly  ap- 
propriate to  our  present  condition  ;  we  must  admit 
the  existence  of  moral  evil,  while  we  admit  our- 
selves to  be  totally  destitute  of  those  rules  of  discri- 
mination, by  which  alone  good  and  evil  can  be  dis- 
tinguished from  each  other. 

Existing  in  this  state  and  manner,  moral  evil  can 
produce  no  consciousness  of  innocence  or  guilt ;  the 
rules  of  eternal  right  must  be  unknown,  and  conse- 
quently it  can  excite  no  solicitude,  and  awaken  nei- 
tlier  our  hopes  nor  fears.    The  rewards  and  punish- 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY*  m 

ments,  to  which  it  may  expose  its  possessors,  can- 
not be  founded  upon  those  principles  of  justice 
which  are  comprehensible  to  man  ;  because  the  in- 
dividuals, unable  to  act,  except  under  the  direction 
of  chance  or  the  impulse  of  necessity,  cannot  be  the 
subjects  either  of  censure  or  applause. 

To  suppose  that  the  same  laws,  which  now  dis- 
tinguish vice  from  virtue  in  the  view  of  man,  shall 
continue  to  operate  beyond  the  grave,  is  to  suppose 
the  moral  condition  of  man  to  be  precisely  the  same 
both  in  time  and  in  eternity.  We  must  therefore 
admit,  that  those  laws  which  were  given  to  man  in 
this  life,  must  continue  to  operate  w^hen  our  con- 
fines shall  be  enlarged,  and  when  the  present  condi- 
tion shall  be  done  away.  These  suppositions  must 
break  down  the  principal  distinctions  between  time 
and  eternity,  and  make  those  distinct  abodes  to 
differ  chiefly  in  the  locality  and  enlargement  of  our 
scenes  of  action.  In  fine,  it  will  make  a  state  of 
retribution  to  be  a  state  of  probation  ;  they  will  be- 
come terms  synonymous  with  each  other  to  which 
we  may  even  annex  the  same  idea ;  in  short,  it  will 
be  a  state  of  retribution,,  and  not  a  state  of  retribu- 
tion, at  the  same  time. 

But,  since  a  state  of  retribution  necessarily  im- 
plies a  state  of  previous  probation,  while  a  state  of 
probation  as  necessarily  looks  forward  to  a  state  of 
retribution ;  the  terms  and  ideas  must  be  so  distinct 
from  each  other,  that  all  attemps  to  blend  them  to- 
gether will  involve  contradictions  of  the  most  pal- 
pable nature ;  probation  in  such  a  case  can  be  no 
^probation,  and  retribution  can  be  no  retribution. 

s 


122        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

We,  therefore,  come  to  the  same  conclusion  whicli 
we  have  already  seen,  namely,  that  moral  evil  must 
be  confined  within  the  boundaries  of  the  moral  law  ; 
that  this  law  must  be  confined  to  a  state  of  proba- 
tion, that  probation  is  confined  to  the  present  life, 
and  that  retribution  lies  beyond  the  grave. 

What  the  physical  nature  of  moral  evil  is,  when 
abstracted  from  man,  I  take  not  upon  me  to  say ; 
neither  do  I  presume  to  determine  in  what  manner 
it  applies  to  ovher  lapsed  intelligences.  Man  is  the 
subject  of  our  inquiries,  and  "the  proper  study  of 
mankind  is  man."  Of  this  truth,  liowever,  we  may 
be  assured,  that  moral  evil,  as  it  applies  to  man, 
must  apply  to  him  as  such  ;  and  therefore  must  ex- 
clusively apply  to  him  in  his  compounded  condition, 
It  was  to  man,  in  his  compounded  state,  that  the 
laws  of  God,  both  natural  and  revealed,  were  ex- 
clusively given  ;  and  to  him  in  this  state  those  laws 
which  distingush  vice  from  virtue,  must  exclusively 
apply.  But  when  this  compounded  mode  of  man's 
being  shall  be  dissolved,  and  we  shall  enter  into 
another  condition  of  existence,  I  can  have  no  con- 
ception how  those  laws,  which  were  given  to  man  ■ 
in  his  probationary  state  and  compounded  condi- 
tion, can  be  applicable  to  him  in  another,  where  pro- 
bation, and  (if  the  body  rise  not)  compound  must 
be  alike  unknown. 

From  these  sources  of  argument,  in  conjunction 
Vv'ilh  others,  wc  cannot  avoid   inferring,  that  moral 
evil  must  be  confined  to  a  probationary  state.    And 
therefore,  when  this  probationary  state  shall  cease^^j 
even  moral  evil  shall  be  no  more. 


Seel.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  Jl5l3 

That  death  shall  terminate  our  probationary  con- 
dition of  being,  is  too  obvious  to  require  further 
proof.  The  separation  of  soul  and  body,  together 
with  the  changes  which  present  themselves  to  our 
senses,  plainly  mark  the  awful  moment  as  an 
important  epoch  in  existence ;  an  epoch  which 
launches  the  disembodied  spirit  into  a  future  state, 
and  commences  that  retribution  which  shall  never 
end.  And,  since  death  must  be  considered  as  a 
natural  effect  of  moral  evil,  which  must  be  confined 
to  our  probationary  state ;  when  the  cause  expires, 
the  effect  must  necessarily  discontinue.  For,  as  the 
existence  of  death  is  not  real  and  personal,  but  ra- 
ther negative^  relative^  and  dependent  >•  it  can  no 
longer  continue  in  being  than  while  that  cause 
on  which  it  is  dependent  is  preserved.  And,  since 
moral  evil  is  the  primary  cause  from  which  it  sprang, 
and  is  exclusively  confined  to  a  probationary  state 
which  death  must  terminate,  the  consequence  is 
evident,  that  death,*  and  moral  evil,  and  a  proba- 
tionary state,  must  expire  together. 

As  death  has  passed  upon  all  men,  because  all 
have  sinned,  these  arguments  will  apply  individu- 
ally to  every  victim  of  its  gloomy  power.  The 
natural  effects  which  finally  terminate  in  the  disso- 
lution of  the  component  parts  of  our  bodies,  may 
appear  indeed  to  continue  for  a  season  ;  but  when 
that  cause  which  produced  these  effects  shall  be 
totally  subdued,  these  effects  must  forever  cease. 
Then  that  principle,  which  we  shall  soon  consider, 
which  constitutes  the  identity  of  the  body,  under 
all  its  changes,  both  in  life  and  death,  removed  from 


124    Identity  and  resurrection    [Chap.  m. 

those  oppressions  which  retarded  the  energies  of  its 
active  nature,  shall  be^in  to  put  forth  its  infant  pow- 
ers. And,  sufnciently  ripened,  through  the  recess 
which  the  grave  affords,  for  a  future  state,  this  prin- 
ciple, when  the  trumpet  shall  sound,  and  the  dead 
shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be  chang- 
ed, shall  put  on  immortal  life. 

With  the  natural  effects  of  moral  evil,  the  moral 
consequences  of  human  actions  can,  however,  have 
but  little  or  no  connection.  These  moral  conse- 
quences depend  upon  distinct  causes,  and  must 
stand  or  fall  with  the  moral  attributes  of  God.  His 
justice  must  proportion  rewards  and  punishments  in 
the  great  day  of  retribution,  with  impartial  equity, 
and  give  to  every  man  according  to  his  works. 
"But,  when  death  shall  be  destroyed,  the  natural  ef- 
fects of  death  must  perish;  and  the  human  body, 
liberated  from  its  cold  repository,  must  come  forth. 
into  newness  of  life,  and  begin  a  state  of  existence 
tvhich  shall  never  end. 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  125 


SECTION  V. 

On  the  Difference  hetzceen  the  naturai  Effects 
and  moral  Comeqnences  of  moral  Evils  unlk 
Arguments  tending  to  prove  that  the  former 
must  cease  J  lohile  the  latter  luill  continue  for 
ever. 

In  the  preceding  Section  I  have  contended,  that 
our  present  state  of  existence  is  a  state  of  probation ; 
but,  that  beyond  the  grave  a  continuence  of  this 
probationary  state  must  be  inapplicable^  and  there- 
fore will  be  unknown.  And,  from  hence  I  have 
conckided,  that  those  laws  which  were  applicable  to 
a  probationary  state,  cannot  be  presumed  to  retain 
their  present  operative  power,  in  that  state  where 
probation  must  be  swallowed  up  in  retribution,  and 
can  have  no  existence. 

From  common  observation,  we  cannot  avoid 
learning,  that,  whatever  modes  of  existence  moral 
evil  may  assume,  its  principal  branches  must  con- 
sist in  those  actions  to  which  the  existence  of  the 
body,  as  well  as  that  of  the  soul,  is  absolutely  ne- 
cessary. And  certain  it  is,  that  these  branches  of 
moral  evil  can  no  longer  be  repeated,  than  while  the 
body  remains  in  union  with  the  soul,  and  retains  the 
power  of  muscular  action.  Now,  we  well  know 
that  in  the  hour  of  deatji,  these  powers  of  bodily 
action  are  quite  suspended,  and  consequently,  the 
body  can  be  no  longer  subjected  to  those  laws, 


126  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  III. 

which  are  of  a  moral  nature,  and  which  distinguish 
vice  from  virtue.  And  hence  it  is  we  learn,  that 
through  the  important  change  which  death  occa- 
sioijs,  the  body,  while  in  a  state  of  torpor,  can  be 
subject  to  no  more  law,  because  its  alliance  with 
the  conscious  spirit  is  now  dissolved.  And  since 
the  body  when  united  to  the  soul  was  the  subject  of 
a  moral  law,  and  is  now,  through  the  disunion  which 
has  taken  place,  a  subject  no  longer,  this  law  must 
discontinue  its  operations,  through  a  kind  of  neces- 
sity which  is  implanted  in  the  natural  constitution  i 
of  things.  As,  therefore,  the  present  constitution 
of  man  must  be  dissolved  in  the  hour  of  death,  we 
cannot,  beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  present  life, 
be  capable  of  those  actions  which  constitute  moral 
evil  in  our^  present  state  ;  consequently,  retribution 
must  succeed  to  the  present  life,  and  we  must  here- 
after, either  enjoy  those  rewards  or  suffer  those 
punishments,  which  justice  shall  annex  to  our  moral 
actions  here  beloV. 

But,  though  moral  evil,  confined  to  the  violation 
of  those  laws  which  are  only  appropriate  to  the  pre- 
sent probationary  state,  must  cease,  together  with 
its  natural  effects,  when  this  life  shall  be  no  more, 
it  will  not  follow  that  the  moral  consequences  of  our 
present  actions  must  therefore  expire.  All  effects 
have  a  necessary  dependence  upon  their  causes ; 
and  the  same  modes  of  reasoning,  which  will  con- 
vince us  that  death  must  cease  when  moral  evil  shall 
be  done  away,  will  assure  us  that  the  moral  conse- 
qitencas  of  moral  evil  juust  conlinue  in  existence. 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  "     127 

because  they  are  the  natural  effects  of  the  moral  jus^ 
tice  of  God. 

If  the  moral  consequences  of  moral  evil  depend 
upon  any  cause  which  we  denominate  natural  in  the 
present  life,  they  must  necessarily  perish,  when  that 
cause  either  ceases  to  exist,  or  ceases  to  operate.  In 
this  light  I  have  considered  the  dissolution  of  the 
human  body  as  the  natural  effect  of  death,  and  death 
as  the  natural  effect  of  moral  evil ;  and  hence  I  have 
inferred  the  resurrection  of  the  body  from  the  cer-- 
tain  destruction  of  moral  evil,  and  the  utter  impossi- 
bility that  any  natural  effect  should  survive  its  cause. 

But,  as  on  the  contrary,  the  moral  consequences 
of  human  actions  must  depend  upon  moral  causes 
•with  which  they  are  connected ;  they  cannot  be 
presumed  to  cease  until  these  moral  causes  cease  to 
operate,  or  shall  be  totally  done  away.  As,  there- 
fore, that  cause  upon  which  the  futur£  consequences 
of  our  actions  depend  is  the  moral  justice  of  God, 
these  moral  consequences  being  dependent  upon 
that  immutable  attribute,  must  run  parallel  with  it, 
and  be  perpetuated  through  all  duration. 

Were  it  possible  for  us  to  suppose  that  justice  had 
no  existence,  then  no  moral  consequences  could 
^possibly  have  had  a  being,  either  in  this  life  or  in 
another.  Moral  evil  must,  therefore,  consist  in  a 
deviation  from  the  principles  of  justice,  and  those 
moral  consequences  which  consist  in  future  punish- 
ments must  be  considered  as  the  natural  effects 
which  are  produced  by  it,  in  all  those  who  are  guilty 
of  immoral  actions.  While,  therefore,  moral  justice 
continues  in  existence,  its  effects  must  follow  ;  and 


128        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IIL 

as  the  principle  is  at  once  immutable  and  insepara- 
ble from  the  nature  of  God,  its  nature  must  be  eter- 
nal, and  its  effects  must  continue  forever.  And, 
hence,  also  it  is  evident,  that  as  those  actions,  to  the 
consequences  of  which  it  applies,  were  performed 
by  the  body  and  the  soul  in  conjunction  with  each 
other,  a  resurrection  becomes  necessary,  to  prevent 
the  effects  of  justice-  from  being  defeated  in  their 
applicauion. 

Death,  on  the  contrary,  as  has  been  already  prov- 
ed, is  rather  a  jiatural  effect  than  a  moral  conse^ 
(fuence  of  moral  evil ;  and  therefore  must  stand  in 
immediate  contact  Avith  its  natural  cause.  When 
therefore  moral  evil  shall  cease,  its  natural  effects 
njust  discontinue,  though  the  moral  consequences 
remain  ;  and  the  result  of  that  discontinuance  will 
be  a  resurrection  from  the  grave,  which  is  a  resto- 
ration to  perpetual  life.  Vv  hile  on  the  contrary,  the 
moral  consequences  of  moral  evil,  taking  a  deeper 
root  in  the  immutable  justice  of  God,  who  can  pun- 
ish the  guilty  for  ever,  must  remain  when  all  natural 
efiects  shall  be  entirely  done  away. 

That  the  moral  consequences  of  moral  evil  are 
distinct  frc^m  its  natural  effects,  and  may  exist 
where  d^^^th  and  dissolution  can  have  no  place  ;  is 
evident  from  the  condition  oljallcn  angels.  They, 
though  deathless,  because  they  kept  not  their  first 
estate,  are  doomed  to  welter  in  worlds  of  fire  for 
ever,  and  to  feel  the  moral  consequences  of  their 
transgression  ;  while  the  natural  effects  of  moral 
evil  are  inapplicable  to  their  natures.  For,  being 
in  all  probability  uncompounded  essences,  we  can 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  iW 

have  no  conception  that  any  natural  efFtct  could 
take  place  upon  them,  either  in  those  changes,  which 
man  from  his  mixed  nature  undergoes  in  the  hour^ 
of  death,  or  in  that  dissolution  which  is  its  subse- 
quent result.  Here  then  are  evidently  moral  con- 
sequences detached  from  those  natural  effects  which 
we  behold  taking  place  in  man. 

But,  if  we  change  the  scene,  and  turn  our  thoughts 
from  these  lapsed  intelligences  to  the  brute  creation, 
the  prospect  will  be  entirely  inverted.  The  brute 
creation  incapable  of  moral  action,  can  have  no  con- 
nection with  the  moral  cojiscquences  o^  moral  evil. 
They  are  only  capable  of  feeling  those  natural  cf- 
JectSy  and  that  subsequent  dissolution  which  they 
undergo  ;  leaving  all  moral  consequences  to  apply 
to  those  rational  intelligences,  who,  from  their  superi» 
or  powers,  are  capable  of  distinguishing  good  from 
evil,  and  of  wilfully  choosing  that  evil  which  leads 
them  to  future  woe.  These  natural  effects,  which 
brutes  are  doomed  to  suffer,  seemed  to  arise  from 
their  intimate  connection  with  man ;  their  bodies  are 
compounded  of  different  elements,  and  they  are  ex- 
posed to  that  dissolution,  to  which,  in  the  present- 
state  of  things,  all  compounded  bodies  are  invariably 
liable.  Here  then  are  evidently  natural  effects^  total- 
ly detached  from  all  moral  consequences ^  applied  to 
beings  incapable  of  moral  actions  ;  and  consequently 
incapable  of  moral  obedience  or  transgression. 

But,  when  in  the  third  place,  we  turn  our  views 
from  angels  and  from  brutes  to  man,  we  are  pre- 
sented with  a  different  scene.  The  essence  of  an-, 
gels   being  purely   spiritual,   exposed  in  their  fall 

T 


130      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  III. 

their  rational  nature  to  the  moral  consequences  of 
sin ;  while  they  were  exempted  through  that  un- 
compounded  essence,  from  feeling  those  natural 
effects  to  which  otherwise  they  would  have  been 
exposed.  While  on  the  opposite  side,  the  essence  of 
brutes,  being  purely  material,  exposed  them  to  feel 
the  natural  effects,  and  exempted  them  from  the 
moral  consequences  of  moral  evil;  because  they  were 
destitute  of  a  moral  nature.  But,  as  on  the  contrary, 
the  essence  of  a  man  consists  in  the  union  of  two 
distinct  natures,  as  he  is  compounded  both  of  mat- 
ter and  spirit,  and  apparently  includes  the  essence 
of  an  angel  and  that  of  a  brute  ;  so  must  he  be  ex- 
,posed  to  the  natural  effects  ofmortd  evil  while  here, 
and  to  its  moral  consequences  hereafter. 

If  then,  those  beings  that  zxt,  purely  spiritual  are, 
when  fallen  ex^sed  to  the  moral  consequences  of 
sin,  while  those  creatures  which  are  purely  mate- 
rial^ are  exempt  from  those  consequences,  and  ex- 
posed to  its  natural  effects  ;  the  conclusion  is  both 
obvious  and  striking,  hat  a  being  whose  essence 
consists  in  the  union  of  both  these  natures,  must 
necessarily  be  exposed  to  the  natural  effects  and 
moral  consequences  together.  Such  then  is  pre- 
cisely the  case  with  man.  And,  as  both  of  these 
natures,  which  constitute  his  essence,  concurred  in 
the  performance  of  actions  which  neither  could  have 
separately  committed  ;  actions,  which  became  Ame- 
nable to  justice,  from  the  direction  which  they 
derive  from, the  spiritual  powers  of  the  soul;  a 
resurrection  of  the  body  must  be  demanded  by  the 
moral  and  retributive  justice  of  God. 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  131 

On  these,  and  facts  like  these  it  is,  that  we  behold 
the  distinction  which  subsists  between  the  natural 
effects  and  the  moral  consequences  of  sin,  as  they 
apply  to  man.  We  behold  the  former  depending 
upon  moral  evil  as  its  natural  cause :  and  we  per- 
ceive the  latter  in  close  connection  with  the  moral 
justice  of  God.  The  former  must  expire  when  its 
natural  cause  shall  perish ;  while  the  latter  must 
continue  until  moral  justice  can  be  no  more.  In 
death  I  have  supposed  that  moral  evil  shall  expire  j 
and  consequently  that  death  must  then  give  place  to 
life.  But,  as  the  moral  consequences  of"  sin  are 
founded  upon  an  immutable  cause ;  these  consequen- 
ces must  survive  time  and  continue  through  eternity. 

If,  therefore,  we  conclude  that  rewards  and  pun- 
ishments will  continue  as  the  moral  consequences  of 
^uilt  and  virtue,  and  continue  for  ever  :  while  death, 
the  natural  effect  of  sin,  shall  be  done  away ;  we 
shall  behold  all  the  parts  of  the  economy  of  heaven 
harmonizing  together,  and  even  the  natural  effects 
of  moral  evil  making  way  for  the  great  displays  of 
infinite  justice  and  mercy.  And,  by  being  render- 
ed subservient  to  the  wise  designs  of  God,  they 
shall  tend  to  the  developement  of  those  attributes, 
through  which  all  finite  lapsed  intelligences  will  be 
held  forth,  either  as  monuments  of  justice  or  of 
raercy  through  all  duration,  even  for  ever  and  ever. 


I'SS        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [ChtiV-  IV- 

CHAP.  IV. 

On  identity  in  general, 
SECTION  I. 

On  the  Evidences  of  Identity. 

Ik  vvhat  personal  identity  consists,  is  an  important 
■fjuest5onJ^'  which  has  been  frequently  agitated  and 
Variously  discussed ;  and  on  this  account  it  may 
appear  presumptuous  rather  than  prudent  in  me, 
to  attempt  an  investigation  of  a  subject  on  which 
the  learned  world  has  been  so  much  and  so  long 
divided.  Biit,  since  it  is  a  point  which  is  insepara- 
bly connected  with  the  resurrection  of  the  body 
from  the  grave ;  1  am  under  a  necessity  of  examin- 
ins:  brieflv  its  evidences  and  nature,  in  order  to  fix 
some  criterion  that  may  serve  to  solve  some  of  those 
difficulties  with  which  the  subject  of  the  resurrec- 
tion appears  to  be  perplexed. 
■  It  is  an  opinion  which  has  obtained  the  sanction 
of  general  suiFrage  that  *'  pcrsonat  identity  consists 
hi  consciousness.'*'*  Whether  this  opinion  be  true  or 
false  I  take  not  upon  me  presumptuously  to  deter- 
mine ;  but  certain  I  am,  that  my  habits  of  reflection 
have  produced  in  my  mind  a  different  conviction^ 
and  led  me  to  conclude  that  this  consciousness, 
which  with  many,  has  been  thought  to  constitute 
identity,  is  no  more  than  an  evidence  Vyhich  we  have 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  133 

of  it.  For,  as  consciousness  implies  a  substance  in 
which  it  inheres  ;  so,  this  consciousness  rather  pre- 
supposes  than  const itidcsXh^t  identity  which  is  at- 
tributed to  it. 

It  is  certain,  I  think  beyond  all  tloubt,  that  our 
consciousness  of  any  given  fact  can  never  constitute 
that  fact;  nay,  the  fact  itself  must  stand  or  liiii  in- 
dependently  of  our  consciousness  of  it ;  and  must  in 
the  order  of  nature,  have  had  an  existence  previously 
to  any  consciousness  which  Aire: C.Quld  possibly  pos- 
sess of  i^.  Existence,  therefore,  and  our  conscious- 
ness of  it  are  two  distinct  idea&;!,     vr 

In  addition  to  the  above  observation,  I  think  it 
will  appear  equally  evident,  that,  though  some  par-^ 
ticular  action  might  have  been  performed  by  me,  of 
which  at  present  Iv/have  no  recollection,  while  I  am 
destitute  of  all  consciousness,  I  am  at  the  same  time 
totally  deprived  of  all  evidence  of  the  fact  itself; 
and  consequently,  my  consciousness  which  in  this 
^case  must  be  absent,  can  never  constitute  the  iden- 
tity either  of  the  action,  or  of  any  person  or  thinking 
substance,  by  which  that  action  was  performed.  If, 
therefore,  personal  identity  consists  in  consciousness, 
it  will  be  extremely  diliicult  for  us  to  ascertain,  as 
in  the  case  before  us,  whether  identity  can  remain 
after  all  consciousness  of  it  is  totally  done  away. 

There  can,  I  think,  be  no  doubt,  that  our  consci- 
ousness of  any  given  fact  will  be  admitted  by  our- 
selves as  decisive  evidence  of  that  fact;  while  this 
consciousness  remains ;  and  this  evidence  will  suffi- 
ciently prove  to  us  the  existence  of  the  fact  itself. 


134       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION.     [Chap.  IV. 

But  then,  this  consciousness  of  the  fact  being  only 
a  simple  action  of  the  mind,  must  be  brought  into 
contact  with  the  fact,  to  the  certainty  of  which  it  be- 
comes evidence.  And  as  this  consciousness  is 
founded  upon  the  fact  which  it  necessarily  presup- 
poses, and  to  which  it  owes  its  existence ;  it  can 
never  constitute  either  the  fact  which  it  proves,  or 
the  identity  of  that  being  by  whom  the  fact  was 
performed,  l-^ay,  this  particular  act  of  conscious- 
ness, instead  of  constituting  personal  identity,  will 
not  immediately  pro^'elts  existence.  It  will  indeed 
sufficiently  grove  the  fact  in  question  ;  and  hence 
we  may  rest  assured,  that  if  there  be  an  ac/io?i  there 
must  be  au  actor  ;  but  the  personal  identity  of  the 
actor  can  neither  corisist  in  the  action,  nor  be  con- 
stituted by  that  consciousness  which  assures  us  of 
both,  nor  by  any  subsequent  consciousness  which 
we  may  heieafter  possess. 

Oar  present  consciousness  of  any  given  action, 
which  we  have  performed,  is  to  us  an  invincible 
evidence  of  the  existence  of  that  action ;  and  the 
subsequent  consciousness  which  we  may  have  here- 
after, of  our  present  consciousness,  will  be  to  us  a 
sufficient  evidence  of  our  consciousness  of  the  given 
action.  Our  present  consciousness  of  any  given 
action  is  a  simple  act  of  the  mind,  operating  upon 
the  past  connection  which  subsisted  between  the  ac- 
tion itself  and  our  former  consciousness  of  it ;  as 
well  as  between  the  former  consciousness  and  ac- 
tion, and  our  present  consciousness  of  both.  In  the 
former  case,  cur  consciousness  became  an  evidence 


Sec.  1.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  135 

of  the  action  itself,  while  in  the  latter  our  consci- 
ousness becomes  evidence  of  the  former,  and  is  an 
act  of  the  mind  operating  upon  its  past  operations. 

But,  although  our  former  consciousness  of  any 
given  fact  or  action,  and  our  present  perception  of 
that  past  consciousness  must  be  admitted  as  indis- 
putable evidence  on  the  points  in  question ;  yet 
personal  identity  cannot  possibly  consist  in  either. 
And  therefore  it  will  follow  that  personal  identity 
may  remain  uninjured  and  entire,  though  all  evi- 
dence of  its  existence  were  done  away.  And,  since 
our  consciousness  of  our  own  identity  depends  upon 
identity  itself  for  its  existence;  we  cannot  avoid 
obtaining  an  assurance,  that  where  identity  is  not, 
there  a  consciousness  of  it  cannot  possibly  be# 

But,  though  there  can  be  no  consciousness  of  our 
own  identity  where  identity  is  not ;  it  will  not  fol- 
low, that  where  our  own  identity  is,  there  must  be 
an  invariable  consciousness  of  it.  And  the  reason 
is  evident:  The  identity  of  our  persons  being  inde- 
pendent, can  have  no  necessary  reliance  upon  our 
consciousness  of  it ;  whereas  our  consciousness  of 
our  own  identity,  being  in  itself  necessarily  depend- 
ent must  expire,  the  instant  we  conceive  that  iden- 
tity, on  which  it  is  founded,  to  be  done  away.  Hence 
then  it  is  evident,  that  our  own  personal  identity 
jnay  remain,  though  our  consciousness  of  it  should 
even  be  lost  j  while  on  the  contrary  our  conscious- 
ness of  it  will  infallibly  prove  its  existence  ;  and, 
from  it§  dependent  nature,  demonstrate  that  our 
identity  never  can  be  lost  while  our  consciousness 
of  it  remains  in  existence.  And  hence  also  it  follows, 


136  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IV. 

that  our  own  personal  identity,  and  our  own  consci- 
ousness of  it,  are  two  distinct  ideas  ;  and  that  tlie 
former  never  can  be  constituted  by  the  latter.  Con- 
sciousness therefore  never  can  constitute  identity, 
though  it  is  the  only  infallible  evidence  which  we 
seem  to  have  of  it. 

Whether  consciousness  be  any  thing  more  than 
an  action  of  the  mind,  is  not  for  me  at  present  to 
inquire  ;  but  of  this  we  are  certain,  that  identity 
must,  in  its  own  nature,  be  immutable,  intransfera- 
ble,  and  exempted  from  all  changes ;  and  conse- 
quently our  consciousness  of  it  must,  by  being 
founded  upon  it,  be  equally  permanent  (if  its  report 
be  true)  however  fluctuating  and  unstable  it  may  be 
in  its  awn  nature.  In  fact  we  can  have  no  conception 
of  consciousness,  when  detached  from  an  object ; 
and  therefore  we  can  have  no  decisive  mark,  by 
which  to  determine  upon  its  nature.  But,  admitting 
it  to  be  in  itself  nothing  more  than  an  action  of  the 
mind ;  notiiing  perhaps  can  be  a  greater  mark  of  folly 
than  to  conceive  that  our  personal  identity  can  con- 
sist in  that  which  is  fleeting,  transitory  and  unstable. 

As  consciousness  must  either  be  an  action,  which 
results  from  some  substance,  or  the  peculiar  modi- 
fication of  some  substance  itself;  it  must  in  the  or- 
der of  nature  presuppose  the  existence  of  that  sub- 
stance from  which  it  results,  or  of  which  it  is  a  mo- 
dificaiion  ;  because  no  peculiar  modification  can  be 
coeval  with  the  thing  modified.  And  if,  in  the  order 
of  nature,  the  substance  must  have  existed  previ- 
ously to  those  actions  which  result  from  it,  and  to 
those  modifications  which  it  may  afterwards  assume; 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  137 

it  follows  with  all  the  evidence  of  demonstration, 
that  the  identity  of  the  substance,  whether  material 
or  immaterial,  can  neither  consist  in,  nor  depend 
upon  those  actions  or  modifications  of  being,  which 
depend  entirely  upon  the  substance  itself  for 
their  own  existence.  I  therefore  think  it  to  be  un- 
questionable and  decisive,  that  consciousness  Can 
never  constitute  the  identity  of  any  substance,  whe- 
ther material  or  immaterial :  though  it  must  be  the 
most  unquestionable,  and  perhaps  the  only  evidence 
which  we  have  of  its  existence. 

If  consciousness  constitute  personal  identity,  it  will 
follow,  that  where  there  is  no  consciousness  there 
can  be  no  identity.  And,  admitting  the  sentiments 
of  those  to  be  true,  who  discard  all  spiritual  sub- 
stances from  the  world,  and  admitting  also  that  all 
matter  is  inert ;  there  can  be  no  such  thing  as  iden- 
tity in  existence.  And,  to  avoid  these  contradictions 
and  absurdities,  we  must  conclude  that  whether  the 
substance  in  question  (if  purely  material)  be  animate 
or  inanimate,  its  identity  can  neither  be  constituted 
nor  destroyed  by  any  mode  of  consciousness,  which 
may  either  reside  within  or  result  from  it. 

Every  distinct  individual  must  have  a  distinct 
principle  of  identity,  which  cannot  possibly  lose  it- 
self in  the  identity  of  another ;  we  now  satisfactorily 
know  that  Peter  is  not  Thomas^  that  Thomas  is  not 
Bichard^  and  that  Richard  is  not  Joh7i.  But  all  this 
might  have  been,  if  personal  identity  had  no  exist- 
ence. It  is  only  from  the  existence  of  identity,  that 
it  can  be  distinguished  from  that  diversity,  or  that 
one  individual  can  be  distinguished  from  another; 


13C  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IV; 

and  the  instant  we  suppose  personal  identity  to  be 
destroyed,  from  that  very  instant  the  distinciion 
between  identity  and  diversity  must  be  done  away. 
But,  if  identity  in  the  abstract  be  admitted  to  exist, 
and  to  exist  as  universally  as  substance,  which  can- 
not be  denied,  and  yet  to  be  constituted  by  a  con- 
sciousness which  is  less  universal ;  it  will  follow  that 
identity  is  universal  and  not  universal  at  the  same 
time,  which  is  a  plain  contradiction.  Consciousness 
therefore  can  never  constitute  that  identity,  of 
which,  to  ourselves,  it  is  an  unquestionable  evidence. 
As,  therefore,  some  fixed  principle  of  personal  iden- 
tity must  be  admitted,  to  render  our  consciousness 
of  ourselves  permanent  and  decisive ;  the  question 
seems  to  be  placed  beyoiid  all  doubt,  that  neither 
our  consciousness  of  an  action,  nor  our  conscious- 
ness of  our  own  performance  of  it,  can  any  longer 
retain  either  its  name  or  nature,  than  while  this  fix- 
ed principle,  upon  which  it  is  dependent,  remains  in 
a  permanent  state  of  being. 

Were  it  possible  that  this  principle  of  identity 
could  be  changed,  while  our  consciousness  of  its 
sameness  remained  entire  ;  the  evidence  of  our  con- 
sciousness would  be  falsified  by  fact.  And  in  this 
case,  as  we  could  have  no  assurance  whatever,  that 
our  consci'Hisness  of  our  own  personal  identity  was 
founded  upon  that  identity  ;  we  must  instantly  ban- 
ish all  our  notions  of  assurance  from  the  world,  and 
place  ourselves  in  a  condition  which  would  oblige 
us  to  doubt  even  of  our  own  existence  ;  and  finally 
to  doubt  the  existence  even  of  tho^e  doubts  which 
we  profess  to  entertain.     In  short,  it  would  intrc- 


SecUrl.}  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  135 

duce  universal  scepticism,  which  would  reduce  the 
mind  to  a.  chaos  of  contradictions.  For,  should  my 
consciousness  presume  to  assure  me,  that  I  am  no# 
in  point  of  personal  identity  the  same  person  that  I 
was  ten  or  fifteen  years  ago,  when  in  reality  I  am 
so  far  changed,  that  what  then  performed  an  action 
to  which  my  consciousness  bear  witness,  is  now  no 
longer  in  existence  ;  the  internal  report  of  my  coO- 
sciousness  must  be  falsified  by  the  removal  of  that 
identity  to  which  it  bears  witness.  .  And,  if  the  only 
evidence  which  I  can  possibly  have  of  my  own  per- 
sonal identity,  deceive  me,  I  am  at  once  deprived 
of  the  only  proof  which  can  ascertain  its  existence, 
and  by  which  I  can  distingush  the  same  from 
another.  But,  since  these  conclusions  are  contra- 
dictory and  so  big  with  absurdity,  that  they  cannot 
be  admitted,  it  appears  infallibly  certain,  that  while 
our  consciousness  of  our  own  identity  remains,  the 
identity  of  our  being  must  remain  also  ;  and  that  it 
is  demonstrated  to  be  the  same,  by  that  conscious.- 
ness  which  we  have  of  it.  Without  this  our  consci- 
ousness of  identity  must  be  a  consciousness  of  it, 
and  no  consciousness  of  it  at  the  same  time  ;  and 
the  consciousness  of  our  own  identity  and  nut  of 
our  oxvn  identity  in  the  same  instant.  And,  as  this 
act  of  consciousness  which  demonstrates  the  same- 
ness of  my  person,  must  look  backward  through  re- 
iterated acts,  to  form  a  contact  with  that  distant  ac- 
tion which  I  am  conscious  that  I  performed  in  an 
early  period  of  my  life  ;  so,  as  it  will  infallibly  prove 
the  certainty  of  that  action,  as  that  1  am  the  same 
person  that  then  and  there  performed  it.     And  to 


HO        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IV. 

deny  the  truth  of  thesfe  sentiments,  we  must  suppose 
that  my  consciousness  of.  that  early  action  is  no 
tonsciousness  of  it ;  so  that  it  will  be  consciousness 
and  no  consciousness  at  the  same  time. 

The  certainty  of  an  aclion  will  infallibly  prove  the 
certainty  of  an  actor  ;  and  my  consciousness  that  I 
am  the  person,  and  that  that  action  was  performed 
by  me,  will  be  indubitable  evidence  of  both.  And 
the  future  consciousness,  which  at  any  given  period 
I  may  have  of  these  facts,  will  prove  with  equal 
certainty  (because  consciousness  of  pdrsdnal  identity 
pever  can  be  transferred)  that  the  substance  in  which 
that  consciousness  may  inhere  contmues  the  same, 
whatever  may  be  its  abstract  nature,  f  j'ence  then 
we  obtain,  through  the  evidence  of  consciousness, 
a  satisfactory  assurance  that  it  remains  the  same, 
notwithstanding  all  the  mutations  and  modes  and  ac- 
cidents to  wliich  we  may  have  been  exposed,  during 
the  intermediate  spaces  of  duration,  which  have 
elapsed  between  the  time  of  the  action,  and  that 
time,  when  in  future  I  maj.be  conscious  of  it. 

But,  while  1  thus  assert  that  our  reiterated  acts 
of  consciousness,  following  in  regular  succession, 
will  form  an  unbroken  ch  lin  of  evidence,  of  the  most 
djCcisivc  nature,  through  which  ihe  sameness  of  that 
principle  in  which  this  consciousness  inheres,  and 
the  certainty  of  the  action  may  be  to  myself  demon- 
strated ;  1  would  by  no  means  insinuate  that  this 
chain  of  evidence  will  inform  me  what  this  principle 
of  identity  is,  or  how  it  is  constituted.  To  know 
>yith  precision  in  what  it  consists,  must  be  a  subject 
of  distinct  inquiry,  with  which  this  species  of  evv. 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  Ul 

dente  has  little  or  no  connection.  Repeated  acts 
of  consciousness,  resting  upon  the  same  action,  will 
prove  that  some  substance  in  which  it  inheres  ib  in 
existence,  and  that  this  substance  is  the  same ;  but 
they  will  not  prove  to  any  one  what  it  is.  Consci- 
ousness will  prove  that  it  is  unchangeable  in  its  na- 
ture ;.  but  it  will  neither  identify  any  one  of  its  pio- 
pefties,  nor  tell  us  what  those  properties  are  wl^ich 
constitute  it. 

ii  I  am  well  assured,  that  without  consciousness  we 
can  know  nothing.  But  though  the  modes  of  our 
consciousness  are  multiform  and  various,  perhaps 
the  distinct  species  of  identity,  which  are  in  exist- 
ence, are  more  multiform  and  various  than  the  modes 
of  consciousness  which  we  possess.  In  order  there- 
fore to  prosecute  our  inquiry  with  some  degree  of 
accuracy,  we  must  simplify  our  question,  and  dis^ 
encumber  ourselves  of  all  extraneous  matter.  Hence 
then,  to  inquire  into  the  distinct  nature  of  identity 
and  our  distinct  perceptions  of  it,  must  be  the  sub- 
ject of  another  section. 


SECTION  II. 

On  our  distinct  ideas  of  Identity^  founded  upon  the 
diversity  of  its  nature*  _ 

When  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  term  identity, 
and  attempt  to  make  inquiries  into  its  nature,  it  is 
indispensably  necessary  that  we  should  define  with 
accuracv,  not  only  the  sense  in  which  we  use  it,  but 


142         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION   [Chap.  IV. 

the  subject  itself  to  which  it  may  be  applied.  The 
necessity  of  doing  this,  in  the  case  before  us,  will 
appear  still  more  evident,  when  we  reflect,  that 
there  are  many  views  in  which  the  human  body  may 
be  considered,  which  form  no  part  of  our  present 
investigation.  There  is  an  identity  of  the  comfwnent 
parts  oi  which  the  body  is  formed,  and  therie  is  an 
identity  of  the  modijication  oj  them.  There  is  also 
an  identitii  of  vmn^  considered  as  a  compound  of 
matter  and  spirit  s  and  there  is  an  identity^  which 
detached  from  these,  i^  only  applicable  to  the  body 
itself  These  terms  convey  to  us  distinct  ideas, 
which,  though  applicable  to  the  same  subject,  are 
only  connected  by  a  remote  afiinity. 

The  identity  of  modification  must  consist  in  the 
same  position  of  every  particle  which  is  included  in 
any  given  substance ;  so  that  neither  any  particle, 
nor  the  position  of  it,  can  possibly  be  removed, 
while  this  identity  of  modification  is  presumed  to 
continue.  And  should  any  particle  be  removed 
from  its  primitive  station,  and  lodged  in  some  other 
part  of  the  same  portion  of  matter,  tlie  identity  of 
modification  must  be  thereby  so  effectually  destroy, 
cd,  as  though  it  had  been  totally  removed  from  the 
corporeal  mass. 

But,  although  the  identity  of  modification  should 
be  thus  destrojed,  it  will  not  follow  that  the  iden- 
lity  of  the  component  parts  must  perish.  For 
while  the  particles  of  which  any  given  portion  had 
been  composed,  remain  unmixed  with  foreign  par- 
ticles in  the  same  mass,  the  identity  of  the  compo- 
jicnt  parts  must  remain,   in  what  form   soever  the 


Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  143 

particles  themselves  may  be  combined  and  connected 
together.  But,  if  any  given  particle  should  be  re- 
moved from  the  given  mass,  or  any  new  acquisitions 
should  be  made,  in  either,  or  in  both  of  these  cases, 
the  identity  of  the  component  paints  of  this  given 
body  must  be  entirely  lost.  It  therefore  follows, 
that  the  removal  of  one  particle  from  its  primitive 
position  will  destroy  the  identity  of  modification, 
while  the  total  removal  of  another  from  the  mass 
will  as  totally  destroy  the  identity  of  the  component 
parts  themselves.  It  is  indeed  true,  that  after  these 
changes,  the  identity  of  the  particles  themselves  will 
remain  ;  but  this  will  be  the  identity  of  distinct  par- 
ticles taken  separately,  and  not  the  identity  of  the 
component  parts  considered  as  one  collective  whole. 

The  identity  of  man^  considered  as  a  compound, 
tnust  consist  in  the  union  of  two  distinct  substances, 
vitally  united  together.  To  constitute  this  identity 
of  man,  neither  the  identity  of  the  modification  of 
the  parts,  nor  the  identity  of  all  the  parts  themselves 
can  be  absolutely  necessary.  The  man  may  con- 
tinue, though  the  parts  of  which  his  body  is  com- 
posed may  be  considerably  changed.  And  while 
the  union  continues  between  the  matter  and  spirit  of 
which  he  is  composed,  our  complex  idea  of  man  re- 
mains uninjured  and  entire.  Such  are  the  ideas 
which  I  have  of  modijicationy  of  compound  parts, 
and  of  inauo 

But,  when  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  identity  of 
the  human  bodij,  our  idea  becomes  distinct  from 
those   which   have  been  considered,  and  involve!^ 


144      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  IVV 

several  questions  of  considerable  difficulty  and  of 
considerable  importance.  It  is  an  identity  which 
must  continue  permanent  amidst  those  perpetual 
changes  which  the  body  undergoes. 

But,  since  the  particles  which,  from  time  to  time, 
adhere  to  the  corporeal  mass,  are  in  perpetual  fluc- 
tuation ;  and,  since  almost  every  moment  impresses 
upon  our  bodies  some  considerable  change,  it  will 
be  impossible  to  fix  the  identity  of  them  in  the  whole 
of  the  numerical  particles  which  have  occasionally 
adhered  lo  that  vitality  which  animates  the  human 
frame.  A  variety  of  arguments  would  operate  to 
refute  so  absurd  a  supposition,  as  that  which  would 
make  the  identity  of  the  body  to  consist  in  the  same 
nuniejical  particles  ; — particles,  which  have  perliaps 
occasionally  adhered  to  different  bodies,  which 
bodies  on  this  account  may  with  justice  present  to 
them  an  equal  claim.  And,  though  the  apparent 
modification  of  the  body  may  seem  to  continue 
amidst  these  vicissitudes;  yet,  whatever  resemblance 
it  may  bear,  it  ca  .not  be  the  real  modification  of 
the  same  particles  ;  because  they  are  supposed  to 
h  ive  given  place  to  others,  which  are  now  removed, 
and  will  perhaps  adhere  to  it  no  more. 

To  know  with  certainty  in  what  the  identity  of  the 
body  consists,  is  perhaps  a  point  of  considerable 
difficulty.  It  is  a  question,  which  is  more  easily 
proposed  than  answered  ;  and  we  seem  to  know 
with  more  certainty  in  what  it  does  not  consist,  than 
in  what  it  does.  This,  however,  will  admit  of  little 
doubt,  that  the  thing  itself,  and  the  evidences  of  it, 


Sfech  II.J  OP  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  i45 

tare  distinct  ideas.     We  may  be  totally  ignorant  of 
the  nature  of  the  former,  while  the  latter  may  be 
attended  with  all  the  assurance  necessary  to  product 
conviction ;  just  as  we  may  be  assured  of  our  own 
existence,  though  we  may  never  be  able  to  know 
with   certainty  what  it  is  that  constitutes  it.      The 
evidences  of  a  fact  always  presuppose  the  existence 
of  that  fact ;  and  for  that  reason  can  never  consti- 
tute that  fact  which  they  presuppose.     In  like  man^ 
ner,  the  consciousness  which  I  now  have  that  a  cer- 
tain action  was  performed  by  me  (the  self  same  jper-. 
son  who  now  writes)  is  to  me  a  sufficient  evidence 
that   sameness   remains   to   the   present  moment ; 
and  will  be  so,  as  long  as  my  consciousness  of  that 
action  continues,    notwithstanding  all  the  changes 
which   my  body  has   undergone ;  even   though  I 
should  never  be  able  to  comprehend  in  what  it  Is 
that  this  sameness  consists.     For,  if  consciousness 
cannot  be  transferred  from  one  system  of  matter,  or 
from  one  substance  to  another,    without  losing  its 
own  identity,  which  I  think  no  one  tan  either  affirm 
or  successfully  controvert;  it  will   follow  that  my 
reflex  act  of  consciousness  will,  at  any  given  period 
of  my  existence,  afford  me  the  most  unquestionable 
evidence  that  I  am  the  same  person  and  not  another. 
For,  if  I  am  now  conscious  that  I  was  once  consci- 
ous of  a  fact,  which  is  past  and  gone,   my  present 
consciousness  will  be  a  sufficient   evidence  of  my 
past  consciousness,  and  place  that  former  consci- 
ousness beyond  the  reach  of  uncertainty  and  doubt. 

And,  as  that  former  consciousness  must  be  on  the 

w 


UB        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  IV, 

same  ground  a  proper  evidence  of  the  fact  which  it 
ascertains  ;  I  arrive  by  these  means  at  the  most  de- 
cisive evidence,  that  the  fact  of  which  I  was  once 
conscious,  and  of  which  consciousness  I  am  now 
conscious,  was  done  by  this  self  same  identical  per- 
son, who  now  possesses  the  present  consciousness. 
The  first  act  of  consciousness  was  in  contact  with 
the  fact  itself,  the  next  act  in  contact  with  the  fore- 
going ;  and  my  present  act  being  in  contact  with 
that  act  which  next  preceded  it,  preserves  the  chain 
of  evidence  unbroken  and  entire  to  the  present  mo- 
ijfient.  Nothing,  therefore,  can  either  affect  or  in- 
jure the  chain  of  evidence,  which  thus  reaches  back 
through  preceding  links  to  the  facts  in  question  at 
any  given  period,  within  the  reach  of  recoUectivc 
duration.  And  as  a  transfer  of  consciousness  can- 
not possibly  take  place,  from  one  substance  to  ano-» 
ther,  without  destroying  the  identity  of  that  consci- 
ousness ;  the  identity  of  that  consciousness  will 
prove  the  identity  of  the  substance  in  which  it  in- 
hc^res,  without  the  possibility  of  deception  ;  though 
i^ri^ap  never  constitute  that  identity  which  it  thus 
Unquestionably  proves. 

That  the  identity  of  our  bodies  does  exist,  wc 
cannot  for  a  moment  doubt.  Our  own  existence 
will  upbraid  our  incredulity,  and  force  the  belief  of 
lihe  fact  upon  us,  in  spite  of  our  most  obstinate  re- 
sistance. 7^hat  personal, identity  and  the  evidences 
of  it;  are  two  distinct  ideas,  I  have  alread\  proved  in 
this  and  the  preceding  sections,  in  which  I  have  con- 
sidered consciousness  as  the  only  medium  through 
which  past  and  future  can  be  brought   into  contact 


Sfect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  U? 

with  one  another;  and  through  which  present  pei*-i 
ceptions  can  be  brought  into  coiitact  with  actions 
that  are  past  and  gone.  But,  though  this  consci- 
ousness of  what  is  past,  is  an  unquestionable  evi2 
dence  of  the  certainty  of  identity  ;  yet  identity  itself 
must  be  a  something  totally  distinct ;  and  can  never 
be  constituted  by  that  consciousness,  which  is  only 
an  evidence  of  it,  which  necessarily  presupposes  it, 
and  which,  on  that  account,  must  derive  its  origin 
and  constitution  from  another  source.  -- 

When  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  term  identity, 
and  view  it  in  its  most  enlarged  and  extensive  sig. 
nification ;  we  shall  find  but  few  things  to  which 
the  term  will  not  apply,  even  though  they  present 
us  with  ideas,  which  have  little  or  no  connection 
with  one  another. 

When  we  speak  of  the  identity  of  substance y  we 
mean  every  thing  which  is  included  within  its  es- 
sence, abstracted  from  all  its  appendages,  its  config- 
uration, and  modes.  When  we  speak  of  the  iden- 
tity of  parts  ^  we  mean  every  identical  atom,  includ- 
ed in  that  union,  which  at  any  given  period  is  pre- 
sumed to  engross  our  thoughts.  When  we  speak 
of  the  identity  of  any  particular  modification^  the 
same  identical  arrangement  is  necessary,  in  all  the 
modes  and  situations  of  the  particles  which  suggest- 
ed to  us  the  nrst  idea.  But,  when  we  speak  of  the 
identity  of  man,  we  not  only  take  into  our  idea  the 
corporeal  parts  of  his  body,  but  include  in  that  com- 
plex term,  the  union  of  two  distinct  substances,  and 
consider  them  in  mvsterious  contact  with  one  ano- 


\4,9  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IV, 

tber:  and  by  the  removal  of  either,  our  complex 
idea  is  so  f^r  mutilated,  that  the  identity  of  man  is 
totally  destroyed.  All  therefore  that  afterwards  re- 
mains in  the  mind,  is  an  idea  of  two  distinct  sub- 
stances, novy  no  longer  in  contact  with  one  another. 

In  the  midst  of_ these  distinct  applications  of  the 
term  identity,  it  is  however  necessary  to  distinguish 
and  select,  that  we  may  know  with  precision  what 
that  identity  is,  after  which  we  inquire ;  where  it 
is  to  be  found,  in  what  it  consists ;  and  what  are  its 
?nost  distinguishing  marks  and  properties. 

The  identity  which  constitutes  the  subject  of  o\ir 
present  inquiry,  is  neither  the  identity  of  matter  nor 
of  spirit ;  it  is  not  the  identity  of  parts  or  of  essen- 
pes.  It  is  not  the  identity  of  substance  or  of  modi- 
fication, nor  is  it  the  identity  of  man.  But,  tho 
idt;ntity  after  which  we  inquire  is  the  identify  of  that 
particular  part  of  man^  which  subsists  under  all 
the  vicissitudes  and  mutations  of  human  life  :  which 
must  subsist  when  the  spirit  is  removed  from  its 
confines  ;  it  is  that  part  which  we  denomhiate  the 
human  body, 

SECTION  III. 

General    observations    on     the    identiti/    <f   tht 
^luman  Bqdi/y 

That  the  identity  of  the  human  body  must  con- 
sist in  something  which  is  material,  will  admit  of  little 
or  no  doubt  to  a  reflecting  mind.  It  would  involve 
a  contradiction  to  suppose  the  contrary  ;  especialh^ 


Sect.  Jir.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  U9 

when  we  consider  that  the  body  itself,  after  the  iden« 
tity  of  which  we  inquire,  estabhshed  an  idea  in  our 
minds,  of  which  the  spirit  can  make  no  part.  The 
identity  of  matter  must  necessarily  be  constituted 
by  something  which  is  material ;  and  as  the  body  is 
formed  solely  of  this  substance,  the  identity  of  the 
body  must  necessarily  be  material  also.  These 
facts  arise  from  the  nature  of  body,  and  from  those 
ideas  which  we  have  of  material  substances.  And, 
could  we  even  suppose  that  the  identity  of  the  body, 
which  is  admitted  to  be  material,  could  consist  in 
something  which  is  not  material,  it  must  be  the  iden- 
tity of  the  body  and  not  the  identity  of  the  body  at 
the  same  time,  which  is  a  contradiction. 

The  question,  however,  still  remains--^In  what 
does  the  identity  of  the  human  body  consist  ? 

That  it  must  be  material,  is  a  truth  which  I  flat- 
ter myself  none  will  presume  to  deny.  But,  in  what- 
soever it  consists,  we  must  involve  ourselves  in  con- 
tradictions, were  we  to  presume  the  possibility  of 
its  being  transferred,  from  one  system  of  atoms  to 
another.  There  are  therefore  but  two  points  to  be 
considered  ;  the  first  is — ^does  the  identity  of  the 
body  consist  in  the  whole  of  the  particles  which  con- 
stitute the  body  ?  or  secondly,  is  identity  peculiar 
to  some  particular  part  ?  These  two  points  seem 
to  be  the  only  ones,  which  can  at  present  claim  an 
interest  in  our  decision. 

When  we  take  a  survey  of  identity,  in  the  ab- 
stract ;  I  am  ready  to  allow,  that  we  can  form  no 
conception  how  our  idea  of  it  can  be  annexed  to 
?.ny  one  part  of  the  human  body  more  than  to  ano- 


150      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION"    [Chap.  IV. 

other ;  since  the  reasonings  which  can  be  advanced 
in  fa^'our  of  the  one,  will  apparently  apply  with 
equal  force  to  all.  But,  when  we  view  this  theory 
in  its  active  and  practical  consequences;  it  assumes 
another  aspect,  and  places  anotlier  feature  on  the 
whole  face  of  things. 

We  .\ell  knoW)  in  case  of  amputation,  that  much 
of  the  substance  of  the  body  may  be  taken  away, 
without  in  the  least  affecting  the  identity  of  that 
body  from  which  that  substance  was  taken.  It  is 
true  that  the  removal  of  any  given  particle  will  en. 
tirely  destroy  the  identity  of  the  numerical  parts, 
as  vvell  as  the  identity  of  the  modification  of  ihem. 
But  the  identity  of  the  parts,  and  the  identity  of  the 
hocly,  are  two  distinct  ideas.  For,  while  amputa- 
tion will,  and  inevitably  must  destroy  the  identity 
of  the  numerical  parts  ;  the  identity  of  the  body  will 
remain  uninjured  and  entire,  as  much  so,  as  though 
no  such  amputation  had  taken  place.  And  hence 
it  will  follow,  that  the  whole  of  our  corporeal  frames, 
that  every  part  and  particle  of  the  human  bqdy,  can- 
not be  necessary  to  constitute  its  identity.  For,  as 
the  identity  of  the  body  may,  and  actually  does  sur- 
vive the  amputation  of  many  parts ;  those  ampu- 
tated parts  can  only  be  considered  as  extraneous 
Inatter,  or  as  appendages  to  that  principle  of  per- 
sonality in  wh  ch  I  shall  hereafter  presume  to  place 
the  identity  of  the  body  of  man. 

But,  although  some  parts  may  be  thus  separated 
from  the  body,  without  affecting  its  identity  ;  yet 
this  separation  must  be  partial.  There  must  be 
some  lines  and  boundaries  of  demarkation,  beyond 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  l5l 

which  amputation  cannot  pass,  without  affecting 
those  tender  and  vital  parts,  which  have  a  more  im* 
mediate  connection  with  the  subject  of  our  inquiry/ 

When  we  look  on  these  remote  appendages  of 
the  body,  which  can  be  separated  from  it  without 
pain ;  the  suffrages  of  popular  opinion  concur  in 
one  general  sentiment,  with  the  disquisitions  of 
philosophy,  in  affirming  that  bodily  identity  resides 
not  in  these.  We  decide  without  hesitation,  and 
that  justly,  that  the  body  is  the  same  in  point  of 
identity  after  the  clipping  of  our  hair  or  nails,  as  it 
was  before ;  but  this  would  be  a  false  decision,  if 
either  our  hair  or  nails,  or  ihose  particles  of  which 
they  are  composed,  formed  any  part  of  the  identity 
of  those  bodies  whence  they  were  taken. 

Those  minute  particles  which  are  thrown  off  by 
perspiration,,  are  also  admitted  to  have  no  influence 
upon  it  in  point  of  identity  ;  neither  can  they  occa- 
sion any  change  in  the  sameness  of  the  body,  from 
whence  they  spring.  But,  however,  the  places  of 
these  evaporated  particles  may  be  supplied  by  new 
ones,  the  exhalations  must  necessarily  produce  a 
positive  change  in  the  component  parts  of  the  body, 
as  well  as  in  the  modification  of  the  parts  themselves. 
Yet  as  the  identity  of  the  body  is  not  changed  by 
these  real  changes  in  its  componet  parts ;  it  affords 
another  additional  argument  to  prove,  that  the  iden- 
tity of  the  body,  and  the  identity  of  its  parts  are  two 
distinct  ideas. 

If  then,  these  diminutive,  yet  real  changes  which 
perspiration  occasions,  may  take  place  without 
occasioning  any  change  in  the  identity  of  the  body^ 


U2       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION.    [Chap.  I^» 

from  which  the  particles  exhale;  why  may  not  a 
jTiuch  greater  change  take  place,  while  the  identity 
remains  entire  ?  When  the  body  of  a  corpulent 
man  has  been  reduced  to  a  mere  skeletbn  by  a  fever, 
we  may  ask — is  that  body  the  same  that  it  was  be* 
fore  ?  In  point  of  identity  it  most  undoubtedly  is  the 
same,  but  in  point  of  real  numerical  particles,  it  is 
undoubtedly  much  changed,  and  is  become  consid- 
erably different  from  what  it  was  before.  And,  as 
the  loss  of  particles  reduced  his  body  to  that  skele- 
ton at  which  I  have  just  hinted  ;  so,  when  this  per- 
son shall  be  recovered  from  his  reduced  state,  and 
restored  to  his  former  corpulency,  it  must  be  by  the 
acquisition  of  new  particles  which  are  now  incorpo- 
rated in  the  system,  in  the  room  of  those  w'hich  the 
'fever  had  wasted  and  exhaled.  He  must  still  pos- 
sess the  same  body,  in  point  of  identity,  imder  all 
the  variation  of  health  and  sickness  ;  though  per- 
haps not  less  than  one  third  part  of  the  particles 
which  now  compose  his  system  is  entirely  new. 
The  refined  and  subtle  fibres,  which  united  the 
identit}'-  of  his  body,  to  those  portions  of  matter 
which  were  occasionally  in  the  mass,  were  never  se- 
parated from  the  immaterial  principle  within.  The 
adhesion  must  have  continued  through  all  those 
changes  which  the  body  had  undergone  ;  and  there- 
fore  those  parts,  which  were  capable  of  being  remov- 
ed, could  have  formed  no  part  of  its  identity. 

That  the  identity  of  the  man  is  still  the  same,  will 
admit  of  decisive  proof,  from  those  successive  acts 
of  consciousness,  which  followed  one  another  in  re- 
gular order  through  sickness  and  health  ;  and  which 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  ISS 

being  the  remotest  act,  anterior  to  his  disease,  into 
immediate  contact  with  the  present  moment.  And, 
as  consciousness  cannot  be  transferred  from  one  prin- 
ciple, or  system  of  atoms  to  another,  it  never  caii 
becorne  evidence  of  facts,  which,  to  it,  did  not  ex- 
ist. But,  as  he  is  conscious  of  those  actions  which 
he  had  already  performed ;  so  his  present  consci- 
ousness is  not  only  an  evidence  of  the  existence  of 
the  fact  itself,  but  a  decisive  evidence  also  of  the 
continuance  of  his  identity,  during  all  those  changes 
through  w^liich  he  had  previously  passed. 

We  see  then  the  vast  alterations  which  sickness 
can  produce,  without  affecting  the  identity  of  the 
body.  We  see  also  the  surprising  changes  which 
an  infant  undergoes,  from  an  embryo  in  the  womb 
to  a  maturity  of  years,  and  to  hoary  age ;  through 
all  the  numberless  variations  to  which  in  every  stage 
of  life  the  body  has  been  exposed.  iVnd  yet  through 
all  those  changes,  which  either  sickness  or  health 
produces ;  which  respiration,  or  effluvia,  or  perspi- 
ration can  either  separately  or  conjointly  occasion, 
or  which  the  embryo,  from  infancy  to  maturity  can 
undergo  ;  the  identity  is  still  the  same. 

A  body,  which  is  capable  of  preserving  its  iden- 
tity under  such  changes  as  we  thus  constantly  ob- 
serve, may,  without  doubt  undergo  many  more, 
while  its  identity  will  still  remain ;  and  undergo 
such  changes  as  will  baffle  all  calculations,  on  the 
question  of  abstract  possibility.  The  changes  which 
it  has  undergone,  and  which  it  occasionally  under- 
goes, are  too  evident  to  be  denied ;  and  from  wh^t 
we  have  seen,  and  what  we  see,  we  may  safely  pre? 


154        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IV. 

sume  that  more  considerable  changes  are  within 
the  reach  of  possibility.  But,  to  what  extent  these 
changes  may  take  place  without  affecting  the  iden- 
tity of  that  body  which  undergoes  these  changes,  I 
will  not  presume  to  say.  The  amputation  of  many 
parts  may  undoubtedly  take  place,  while  the  iden- 
tity of  that  body  (the  parts  of  which  are  amputated) 
remains  uninjured  and  entire.  Nevertheless,  ampu- 
tation must  be  confined  in  its  application  ;  and  as  I 
have  already  observed,  there  must  be  some  lines  and 
boundaries  beyond  which  amputation  cannot  pass. 

The  hairs  of  our  heads  may  without  doubt  be 
cut  off;  and  the  nails  of  our  fingers  and  toes  may 
also  be  taken  away.  And  even  if  our  fingers  and 
toes  were  amputated  also,  1  think  no  question  could 
be  made  on  the  subject,  that  sameness  in  point  of 
vital  union  with  the  immaterial  spirit  would  still  con- 
tinue, though  the  identity  of  the  numerical  particles 
would  certainly  be  destroyed ;  and  from  those  par- 
tial losses  we  may  proceed  to  the  amputation  of 
legs  and  arms.  If  the  amputation  of  these  were  to 
take  place,  I  am  still  inclined  to  think,  that  the  man 
would  be  the  same,  i.  e.  the  self  same  intelligent, 
animated  being,  compounded  of  an  immaterial  spirit 
and  an  organized  body,  united  to  this  spirit  by  means 
which  we  cannot  comprehend,  would  remain  not- 
withstanding the  amputation  of  legs  and  arms.  And, 
since  the  vital  union  between  these  two  substances 
must  remain,  notwithstanding  these  amputations  ; 
it  plainly  follows,  that  the  identity  of  our  bodies,  and 
the  identity  of  all  their  numerical  parts,  must  be 
distinct  subjects,  as  well  as  distinct  ideas,  which  .can 


Sect,  in.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  4,55 

have  no  necessary  connection.  For,  as  the  amputa- 
tion of  those  parts  will  prove  that  the  identity  of  the 
body  still  continues ;  it  plainly  follows,  that  our  idea 
of  the  identity  or  sameness  of  the  body  cannot  be 
constituted  by  all  those  particles  which  had  been 
vitally  united  to  the  corp<,real  mass.  From  the  vital 
union  still  remaining,  this  inference  is  placed  be- 
yond the  reach  of  doubt ;  namely,  that  the  principle 
of  identity  which  resides  within  the  body,  under 
consideration,  could  not  have  been  injured  by  the 
partial  losses  which  the  body  hai  sustained ;  al- 
though this  principle  of  identity  must  now  retire 
within  narrower  confines,  than  it  occupied  when  the 
■whole  corporeal  mass  was  perfect  and  entire. 

It  is  probable,  however,  that  amputation  cannot 
pass  much  further,  without  approaching  the  secret 
recesses,  where  those  attenuated  fibres  are,  which 
unite  the  different  parts  of  the  floating  mass,  in  close 
and  intimate  connection  with  those  particles  which 
constitute  the  identity  of  the  body ;  and  which  in 
all  probability  form  some  mysterious  contact  with 
the  immortal  spirit  of  man.  The  result  of  this  rea- 
soning will,  however,  I  flatter  myself,  be  fuflicient 
to  prove,  that  the  identity  of  the  human  body  can- 
not be  constituted  by  that  which  constitutes  the 
identity  of  its  numerical  parts.  The  identity  of  the 
body  must  be  a  distinct  idea ;  it  must  consist  in 
something  which  remains  permanent,  amidst  the 
shocks  of  surrounding  changes,  and  preserves  its 
sameness  through  all  the  vicissitudes  of  human  life. 


156        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRtCTION  [Chap,  m 


SECTION  IV. 

The  ideniiii/  of  the  human  Body  more  imynediately 
considered. 

Having,  in  the  preceding  section,  considered 
the  human  body  in  general,  as  a  mass  of  matter  in  a 
state  of  perpetual  change ;  and  having  noticed  that 
the  amputation  of  many  pafts  may  actually  take 
place,  without  affecting  the  permanent  principle  of 
its  identity  ;  it  is  a  question  which  now  naturally 
rises  before  us :  In  what  does  the  identity  of  the 
human  body  more  immediately  consist  ? 

That  this  identity  cannot  consist  in  all  the  nimie- 
rical  particles,  which  have  occasionally  been  incor- 
porated in  the  system,  I  have  already  hinted;  and 
that  it  cannot  consist  either  in  all  those  which  shall  be 
attached  to  the  body  in  the  moment  of  its  interment, 
or  in  the  majority  of  them,  I  shall  hereafter  attempt 
to  prove.  And  that  the  identity  of  the  body  should 
consist  in  any  mere  modification,  which  all  the  parts 
n^ight  at  any  time,  either  in  life  or  death  assume,  it 
would  be  the  height  of  folly  to  suppose. 

From  these  circumstances,  therefore,  equally 
supported  by  reason  and  fact,  as  well  as  from  the 
nature  and  constitution  of  the  human  body,  we  are 
urged  to  adopt  this  opinion,  That  there  must  he 
somewhere  lodged  icilhin  it,  some  portion  of  immO' 
veable  matter,    from   zvhich   its    general  idcntitjr 


Sect.  IV.}  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  157 

is  denominated^  in  all  the  variations,  through  tvhich 
the  hod}j  passes^  in  the  devious  mutations  of  human 
life. 

Tlie  reasons,  which  have  led  to  the  adoption  of 
this  opinion  will  be  adduced  in  a  subsequent  part 
of  this  discussion  ;  at  present  we  shall  only  urge  it 
as  an  hypothetical  possibility,  while  we  trace  its  co- 
incidence wi;h  the  analogy  of  nature,  and  the  vari- 
ous branches  of  phenomena,  which  are,  in  the  dif- 
ferent stages  of  human  existence,  presented  to  our 
observation.  The  insuperable  difficulties,  which 
are  attendant  upon  every  other  supposition,  and  in 
many  cases  the  evident  contradictions  which  would 
be  involved  in  it,  scarcely  leave  the  mind  at  liberty 
to  adopt  any  other  hypothesis  ;  while  even  these  ab- 
surdities, co-operating  with  the  probabilities  tiAt 
appear  in  favour  of  the  sentiment  which  we  ha\^ " 
adopted,  become  negative  arguments  to  prove  that 
some  portions  of  matter  must  remain  immoveable 
in  the  body  of  man. 

In  these  portions  of  immoveable  matter,  which 
must  be  equally  removed  from  the  influence  of  the 
atmosphere,  from  fluctuation,  and  from  internal  ten- 
dencies to  decay,  it  is  therefore  highly  probable  that 
God  has  placed  the  identity  of  the  human  body ;  and 
therefore  to  these  portions  we  must  look  for  that 
immoveable  seat  of  bodily  personality,  which  must 
necessarily  continue  inseparable  from  man.  It  is 
this  principle,  which  must  constitute  the  sameness 
of  our  bodies,  under  every  change  through  which 
they  may  pass,  and  to  which  they  may  be  exposed 


rsB      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  IVi 

in  all  the  different  stages  of  human  life  ;  and  it  is 
to  those  portions  of  immoveable  matter,  in  all  pro- 
bability, that  the  immaterial  spirit  is  united  in  the 
mysterious  compact  which  subsists  between  these 
distant  natures  in  the  present  life. 

Nor,  perhaps,  is  the  mysterious  union  the  only 
object,  which,  on  the  present  occasion,  excites  our 
notice.  An  indivisible  spiritual  substance,  and  a 
portion  of  corruptible  matter,  the  parts  of  which 
have  been  rendered  indissoluble  by  the  power  of 
the  Almighty,  may  bear  some  resemblance  to  each 
other  in  the  manner  of  their  existence,  how  distant 
soever  they  may  be  in  point  of  essence  and  incom- 
municable properties.  In  essence  and  properties 
they  must  be  necessarily  distinct ;  while  in  modes  of 
existence  there  may  exist  a  greater  affinity  between 
them,  than  we  might  be  induced  to  imagine  from  a 
popular  view  of  such  remote  extremes.  And,  in  all 
probability,  this  portion  of  permanent  matter,  which 
through  the  original  constitution  of  its  nature,  is 
placed  beyond  the  influence  of  corruption  and  de- 
cay ;  affords  us  a  striking  emblem  of  that  incorrup- 
tion  to  which  our  bodies  shall  be  raised,  when  the 
echo  of  the  last  trumpet  shall  awaken  man  to  per- 
petual life. 

In  that  peaceful  region  no  destructive  atmosphere 
shall  assail  the  body,  and  here  we  behold  this  portion 
of  matter  secured  from  its  innovations.  There  no 
death  can  approach  our  bodies,  and  here  this  portion 
is  placed  beyond  its  influence  and  power.  There  all 
the  parts  of  our  bodies   shall  adhere  for  ever,  and 


Sect.  IV.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  159 

here  this  portion  is  inaccessible  to  dissoUitlon  and 
decay.  There  all  will  be  permanent^  and  here  this 
portion  is  unchangeable.  In  fine,  beyond  the  grave 
all  the  parts  of  our  future  bodies  shall  enjoy  that 
exemption  from  calamities,  which  seems  here  afford- 
ed only  to  a  part ;  and  be  possessed  for  ever,  in  ways 
and  modes  which  are  at  present  totally  unknown. 

To  this  portion  of  immoveable  matter,  in  which  I 
haive  presumed  the  identity  of  the  body  to  be  placed, 
and  which  is  n'ow  lodged  within  its  confines  ;  those 
accessory  atoms  v,'hich  we  acquire  through  the  me- 
dium of  nutrition,  in  all  probability,  adhere  ;  and  it 
is  more  than  probable,  that  this  present  seat  of  per- 
sonality will  become  a  germ  of  future  life,  and  be 
that  principle  which  shall  either  unfold  its  latent  in- 
volutions, and  expand  wholly  into  that  body  which 
shall  be,  or  collect  those  wandering  atoms  which 
will  be  necessary  to  give  completion  to  the  corporeal 
frame,  when  the  voice  of  the  archangel  shall  awaken 
the  dead  to  life.  Of  the  modifications,  which  mat- 
ter is  capable  of  undergoing,  we  know  but  a  diminu- 
tive part ;  nor  can  aur  knowledge  on  this  subject 
be  complete  until  we  are  acquainted  with  its  essence. 
And,  from  this  circumstance  of  our  comparative  ig- 
norance, resulting  from  the  limitation  of  our'  facul- 
ties, it  may  not  be  irrational  to  suppose,  that  this 
indissoluble  portion  of  matter  which  now  consti- 
tutes the  identity  of  the  body,  may  even  contain  at 
present  within  it,  the  constituent  parts  of  that  body- 
which  shall  put  on  incorruption,  when  mortality 
shall  be  swallowed  up  in  life. 


16®  IDENTITY  AND  UESURRECTION  [Chap.  IV. 

To  know  the  dimensions,  the  texture,  the  confi- 
guratioTi,  and  the  place  of  residence,  of  this  portion 
of  immoveable  matter,  might  perhaps  be  highly  gra- 
tifying to  the  curiosity  of  man  ;  but  that  such  know- 
ledge would  be  of  any  real  use  to  us,  may  well  ad- 
mit of  considerable  doubt.  Perhaps  the  acutene^s 
of  those  organs,  which  would  enable  us  to  become 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  internal  constitution 
of  its  nature,  together  with  those  adhesive  powers 
by  which  its  various  parts  are  connected,  would 
deprive  us  of  their  utility  in  practical  life  ;  our  ig- 
norance therefore  of  these  points  is  probably  a  ne- 
cessary consequence  of  our  present  mode  of  being. 
It  is  therefore  wisdom  and  not  defect  in  the  econo- 
my of  heaven,  to  reveal  unto  us  such  knowledge 
only  as  is  necessary  to  our  present  condition,  and  to 
conceal  the  rest  in  impenetrable  darkness. 

From  our  established  modes  of  associating  our 
ideas,  we  have  obtained  a  general  conclusion  that 
in  all  portions  of  matter  solidity  is  necessary  to  du- 
ration  ;  and  hence  u  e  annex  the  idea  of  durability 
to  all  material  objects,  in  proportion  to  the  solidity 
of  their  contents.  Put,  \yhether  this  established  as- 
sociation be  according  to  truth,  may  well  deserve 
tiur  consideration  ;  for,  certain  it  is  that  solidity  and 
durability  are  distinct  ideas,  which  perhaps  have  no 
other  real  connection  than  that  which  subsists  in  our 
own  minds. 

If  God  were  to  create  two  portions  of  matter,  of 
equal  dimensions,  butof  diftlrcnt  degrees  of  solidity, 
bo  diifLrcnt  that  no  assignable  proportion  could  be 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  161 

found  between  them ;  it  is  obvious  that  the  real 
solid  contents  of  the  one,  would  in  due  proportion 
exceed  those  of  the  other.  In  this  view  it  is  evi- 
dent  that  there  must  be  a  proportionally  greater 
quantity  of  adhesion  in  the  parts  of  the  solid,  than 
in  those  of  the  other  portion  of  matter.  And  con- 
sequently, the  more  solid  portion  must  be  further 
removed  than  the  other,  from  the  primary  state  of 
those  particles  which  compose  both.  That  portion 
therefore  which  approached  nearest  to  the  primary 
state,  must  be  less  liable  to  dissolution  than  the 
other ;  and  consequently  would  be  less  exposed  to 
its  influence  and  power.  For,  if  matter  in  its  most 
simple  state  be  incapable  of  decay,  a  portion  which 
approaches  near  to  this  state,  must  be  less  exposed 
to  the  possibility  ol  change  than  one  which  is  fur- 
ther removed  from  it ;  and  the  same  reasoning  will 
hold  good  in  a  progressive  movement,  until  we  ap- 
proach the  most  complex  forms  of  possible  modifi- 
cation. And,  although  all  matter  must  be  alike 
removed  froRi  annihilation  ;  yet  the  most  O'mplex 
forms  of  substances  must  be  capable  of  the  greaiest 
changes,  and  must  undergo  a  greater  process  of 
dissolution  than  others,  before  they  can  be  reduced 
to  their  prestine  elements  and  forms. 

That  the  air  which  we  constantly  respire  is  a  body 
purely  material,  will  admit  of  little  doubt;  but  what- 
ever may  be  the  internal  constitution  of  its  nature, 
it  appears  certain  that  the  particles  of  which  i'  is 
composed,   preserve  their  relation  to  one   another 

Y 


162       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION.     [Chap.  IV. 

with  a  certainty  equal  to  that  of  more  solid,  and  im- 
penetrable substances.  And,  yet,  notwithstanding 
this  volatility  and  elasticity,  which  we  constantly 
discover,  no  reasonable  man,  perhaps,  ever  imagin- 
ed the  atmosphere  to  be  as  much  exposed  to  the 
power  of  dissolution  as  even  a  flint  or  a  diamond. 
However  elastic  and  yielding  the  atmosphere  may 
appear,  it  is  evidently  as  permanent  and  immoveable 
as  any  portion  of  matter  with  which  we  are  acquaint- 
ed ;  and  this  circumstance  plainly  proves,  that  soli- 
dity in  texture  is  not  absolutely  necessary  to  the  dur 
rability  of  those  material  substances  with  which  we 
are  encircled,  and  which  now  engross  our  thoughts. 
It  is  perhaps  in  a  manner  somewhat  analagous  to 
air,  that  those  permanent  principles  of  the  human 
body  exists,  in  which  I  have  supposed  its  identity 
to  consist ;  but  which,  on  that  account,  can  be  no 
more  liable  to  dissolution,  than  the  atmosphere,  to 
which,  in  modes  of  existence,  it  may  probably  be 
allied.  And  though  to  this  portion  of  immoveable 
matter  the  different  pavticles  of  flesh  and  blood  oc- 
casionally adhere,  during  the  various  stages  of  our 
natural  lives;  yet,  as  they  are  in  a  state  of  perpetual 
fluctuation,  adhering  \o  the  system,  retiring  from  it, 
and  then  adhering  anew ;  they  can  form  no  part  of 
that  immoveable  portion,  in  which  identity  or  same- 
ness must  consist.  And  since  these  accessory  par- 
ticles which  are  in  a  state  of  perpetual  mutation,  can 
form  no  part  of  that  portion  which  is  permanent ;  it 
is  highly  probable,  that,  Mhen  the  hour  of  death  shall 
be  succeeded  by  dissolution,  these  floating  particles 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  m 

will  drop  ofF;  and  resuming  their  primary  state, 
leave  at  last  this  portion  unclothed  and  totally  sepa» 
rated  from  all  extraneous  matter. 

Divested  of  all  extraneous  matter,  it  is  probably 
in  its  own  nature  so  constituted,  that  it  becomes  in- 
capable of  incorporating  with  any  other  animal  sub- 
stances ;  incapable  of  affording  any  nutrition,  or  of 
filling  up  any  vacuity  in  the  animal  systems  of  other 
bodies.     In  this  state  of  separation  it  may  lie  repos- 
ing in  the  grave  in  an  apparently  dormant  condition, 
equally  inaccessible  to  all  violence,  and  removed 
from  all  decay.     The  accidents  indeed  which  float 
on  the  stream  of  time,  may  tend  to  disturb  its  tran- 
quility, and  dislodge  it  from  its  gloqmy  mansion ; 
in  this  case  it  may  float  in  the  breeze  for  a  season, 
or  it  may  be   wafted  into  distant  regions  with  the 
adverse  winds  of  heaven  ;  but  change  of  station  can 
never  affect  the  permanency  of  its  nature.     Remov- 
ed from  the  influence  of  gravitation,   through  the 
elementary  principles  of  its  constitution,   it  will  be 
able  to  make  no  resistence  to  external  bodies ;  and 
rendered  too  subtile  for  our  organs  of  vision,  it  may 
elude  all  discernment ;  becoming  at  once  impercep- 
tible to  sight  and  touch.     And,  while  in  this  naked 
state,    abandoned   by   its  immaterial  partner,  and 
separated  from  all  those  cumbrous  particles  of  flesh 
and  blood,  which  now  clothe  and  adhere  to  it ;  it 
must  remain  without  affording  any  evidences  of  its 
existence,  till  the  arrival  of  the  great  day  of  retri- 
bution, when  resuming  its  medium  office,    or  new 
condition,   i     shall   be  re-united   to   its*  immortal 


i64      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Cliap.  IV. 

partner,  never  lo  be  separated  from  it  again  through 
eternity. 

In  the  mean  while,  the  particles,  of  v/hich  it  is 
composed,  may  be  so  clostly  united  in  all  its  stages 
of  existence,  that  nothing  but  the  power  of  God 
peculiarly  exerted  car»  dissolve  the  compact ;  while 
nothing  but  a  total  dissolution  of  its  internal  consti- 
tution can  destroy  its  nature.  For,  though  a  pecu- 
liar application  of  Almighty  power,  might  divide 
these  minute  atoms  of  which  it  is  composed  :  such  a 
division  will  neither  destroy  its  nature,  nor  reduce 
it  to  a  level  with  other  portions  of  animal  matter. 
The  separation  indeed  of  these  parts  will  totally  de- 
stroy all  advantitious  solidity  ;  but  the  reason  why 
the  permanency  of  its  nature  must  still  remain,  is, 
because  the  perpetuity  of  being  which  is  included  in 
its  nature,  arises  not  from  the  peculiar  adhesion  of 
its  parts,  but  from  the  indissoluhleness  (,^f  its  nature. 

Capable  of  yielding  without  receiving  any  violent 
impression,  it  may,  from  the  flexibility  of  its  nature, 
occasionally  assume  a  variety  of  forms.  To  con- 
traction  and  expansion  it  may  be  alike  indifferent ; 
while  it  may  be  capable  of  undergoing  such  modes 
as  never  yet  attracted  the  notice  of  the  human  eye. 
But.  though  all  matter  is  capable  of  divisibilit)', 
which  through  the  application  of  infinite  power,  this 
also  must  be  capable  of  undergoing;  yet  whether  di- 
vided or  entire,  its  nature  will  be  still  the  same.  It  is 
itself,  and  itself  alone,  under  every  possible  connec- 
tion and  form  ;  though  in  a  divided  state  the  distan- 
ces which  it  may  occupy  may  be  local  and  distinct. 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  16,5 

Having  admitted  that  this  portion  of  matter  may 
probably  possess  a  contracting  and  an  expansive 
power,  i^  may  perhaps  be  inquired,  "  To  what  ex- 
tent is  it  capable  of  expanding  ?  and  to  what  mi- 
nuteness is  it  capable  of  contracting  itself?" 

To  these  questions  the  most  rational  reply  per- 
haps that  can  be  given  is,  that  the  compages  of  the 
body  form  the  exterior  confines  of  its  active  elasti- 
city, and  beyond  these  boundaries  it  cannot  possibly- 
pass,  through  the  limitation  of  its  nature  and  its 
name.  While,  on  the  contrary,  it  may,  when  actu- 
ally separated  from  its  immaterial  partner,  and  from 
all  adhesive  matter,  be  capable  of  contracting  itself 
to  such  minuteness  as  may  forever  elude  our  re- 
searches, and  become  totally  invisible  to  all  discern- 
ment, except  that  of  God. 

The  capability  of  the  expansion  and  compression 
of  matter,  we  well  know,  is  considerable  ;  but  v\ie 
know  not  with  certainty  the  full  extent  of  either ; 
becau^  we  are  neither  fully  acquainted  with  its  es- 
sence, nor  with  the  nature  of  porous  bodies.  It  is 
therefore  not  improbable  to  conjecture,  that  the  spe- 
cific quantity  of  matter  which  is  included  in  that 
portion  which  constitutes  the  identity  of  the  human 
body,  may  be  on  the  one  hand,  when  divested  of 
pores,  and  reduced  within  the  confines  of  the  least 
possible  space  on  the  other,  too  minute  for  our  dis- 
cernment, our  comprehension,  or  even  our  concep- 
tion. While,  on  the  contrary,  either  by  these  natural 
instinctive  powers,  which  a  portion  of  matter  thus  or- 
ganized may  possess;  or  from  that  direction  which 
it  may  immediately  receive  from  the  immaterial  spi- 


i66        lDEx\TITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  IV. 

rit  with  which  it  is  in  clpse  alliance,  it  may  elude 
through  the  whole  progress  of  human  life,  those 
accidents  and  misfortunes  to  which  the  gross  mate- 
rials are  exposed.  And,  by  partially  retiring  into 
those  recesses  which  are  provided  for  its  safety,  by 
dilating  or  contracting,  as  circumstances  shall  di- 
rect the  immaterial  spirit,  which  must  be  its  guide  ; 
it  shall  remain  perfect  and  entire  through  all  the  mu- 
tations, amputations,  and  changes  through  which 
the  body  passes,  from  an  embryo  in  the  womb,  to 
full  maturity  and  hoary  age. 

But,  when  the  immaterial  principle  shall  be  sep- 
arated from  its  union  with  this  portion,  and  retire 
■within  the  confines  of  a  future  world,  it  is  not  im- 
probable that  this  principle  of  identity  will  retire 
within  Itself  by  an  innate  contraction,  which  results 
from  the  absence  of  its  immaterial  partner,  which  is 
now  presumed  to  have  taken  its  flight.  In  this  case, 
the  natural  result  must  be,  that  the  whole  mass,  be- 
reft of  its  spiritual  inhabitant,  which  diffused  this 
principle  of  identity  through  its  remotest  parts, 
which  has,  through  the  loss  of  its  spiritual  director, 
retired  also  from  its  diffused  station,  and  deposited 
itself  within  some  inaccessible  confine;  the  natural 
result,  I  say,  must  be,  that  the  praticles  of  matter 
which  composed  the  whole  system,  now  deprived 
by  these  means  of  their  animating  cem.ent,  beco<nc 
no  longer  adhesive,  but  drop  gradually  away  through 
corruption  into  their  primitive  elements  to  mingle, 
devoid  of  life,  and  of  that  association  which  gave  to 
us  the  idea  of  body,  with  the  comtnou  masses  of 
matter  never  di^^nificd  witii  life. 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  157 

Nevertheless,  in  the  midst  of  these  probable  con- 
jectures, while  this  principle  of  identity,  in  union 
with  the  spirit  in  the  present  life,  must  be  considered 
as  different  through  the  corporeal  mass  ;  we  cannot 
avoid  thinking,  that  by  some  ligaments  or  attenuated 
fibres,  it  must  be  united  to  several,  perhaps,  medi- 
ately or  immediately,  to  all  the  parts  of  the  gross 
materials,  and  that  through  this  medium  it  must  be 
confined  within  the  superfices  of  the  adhering  parts, 
from  which  it  cannot  be  separated  without  occasion- 
ing immediate  death.  And  f.om  hence  it  appears 
probable  also,  that  whatever  the  nature  of  those 
filaments  may  be,  the  violence  which  will  separate 
them  from  the  gross  and  fluctuating  parts  to  which 
they  are  in  some  places  united,  must  break  at  the 
same  time  the  connection  between  tlie  principle  of 
identity  itself,  and  the  immaterial  spirit,  to  ^^hich  it 
is  united,  both  by  contact  and  manner  of  existence. 

The  continuance  of  this  principle  of  bodily  iden- 
tity amidst  the  shocks  of  life,  and  the  desolation  of 
surrounding  parts,  is  not  the  decision  of  theory  but 
of  fact  ;  and  its  preservation  amidst  the  ravages  of 
death  maybe  inferred  from  just  analogy.  And 
though  from  hence  it  will  follow,  that  it  is  capable 
of  a  separate  state  of  existence,  when  perfectly  dis- 
united from  all  other  matter  and  from  spirit,  yet  it 
will  not  follow,  that  it  will  possess  any  active  energy, 
or  be  capable  pf  loco-motion.  In  this  state  of  total 
separation,  it  can  have  nothing  more  than  a  kind  of 
vc^clativc  existence^  totally  destitute  of  animalpow- 
crs. 


168  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  YV. 

Shrivelled,  and  folded  in  itself,  it  must  retire  to 
mix  with  common  matter,  and  continue  in  a  torpid 
state  ;  in  which  it  may  undergo  in  a  way  and  man- 
ner which  surpass  our  comprehensions,  a  passive 
process  somewhat  analogous  to  that  of  a  germinating 
atom,  which  is  included  in  grain.  And  in  this  state 
it  may  ripen  towards  the  grand  result  of  things, 
when  it  shall  come  forth  in  a  matured  state, — unfold 
all  its  latent  powers, — put  forth  all  its  bloom, — and 
flourish  throughout  eternity. 

Should,  however,  the  doctrine  of  its  separate  and 
abstracl^  existence  be  applied  to  the  present  life 
while  the  common  appendages  of  body  are  in  close 
connection  with  it,  We  cannot  but  conclude,  that  it 
must  on  that  account  be  erronepus.  In  this  connec- 
tion no  distinct  existence  can  be  assigned  to  it,  inde- 
pendently of  that  general  state  of  being,  which  it 
possesses  in  common  with  nerves,  and  muscles,  and 
flesh,  and  blood.  And  as  no  distinct  mode  of  ex- 
istence can  be  assigned  to  the  component  parts  of 
the  body,  and  to  the  identity  of  that  body,  the  latter 
must  be  included  in  the  former  ;  both  must  be  in- 
cluded in  our  general  idea  of  body,  the  whole  of 
which  becomes  necessary,  when  we  consider  it  as 
npplving  to  the  material  part  of  man. 

It  may  perhaps  be  asked,  *'  In  what  does  the 
identity  of  that  leg  or  arm  consist,  which  I  have 
supposed  may  be  amputated,  vrithout  destroying  the 
identity  of  that  body  from  whence  it  was  taken  ?" 
To  this  question  I  would  rcpiy,  that  as  no  two 
parts  of  an  individual  man  can  survive  their  separa- 


iStetit.  IV.]         OF  tHE  HUMAN  BODY.  isi 

tion  from  each  other,  it  is  natural  to  conclude  that 
only  one  identity  of  that  body  can  exist ;  and  con- 
sequently, the  amputated  part  can  have  no  other 
identity  than  that  which  consists  either  in  the  nume« 
rical  parts  of  which  it  is  composed,  or  in  the  modi- 
fication which  those  parts  had  assumed,  and  from 
whence  we  had  derived  that  complex  idea. 

And  hence  then  arises  the  unreasonableness  of 
supposing  that  any  particular  idea  of  bodily  per- 
sonaliry  can  be  annexed  to  any  amputated  part. 
For,  when  any  part  is  separated  from  that  common 
union  in  which  the  identity  lof  the  body  resides,  it 
is  bereft  of  that  principle,  or  portion  of  matter,  from 
which  its  identity  was  denominated,  and  from  which 
it  partook  of  the  general  name.  It  now  possesses 
no  rally 'ng  point  ;  its  particles  now  join  in  no  com- 
mon union  ;  and  therefore  can  have  no  other  iden- 
tity than  that  which  consists  in  numerical  particles, 
or  the  modification  of  them.  It  now  no  longer  ga- 
joys  an  union  with  those  parts  with  which  it  was 
before  connected,  and  through  which  it  enjoyed  aa 
interest  in  that  common  point  of  union  of  which  it  is 
now  deprived,  but  without  life,  and  without  a  nat. 
ural  centre  of  adherence,  it  drops  into  corruption, 
and  mingles  with  common  dust. 

In  this  utmost  division  of  body,  which  can  take 
place,  without  a  privation  of  life ;  that  portion  in 
which  its  identity  is  lodged,  while  retaining  its  union 
with  the  immaterial  principle,  must  be  that  to  which 
the  vital  atoms  adhere,  and  which  through  their  ad. 
herence  must  become  the  centre  of  report,  to  all 


«ro  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  IV. 

those  particles.  Which,  fr6m  time  to  time  incorpo- 
rate in  the  system,  and  occasionally  fill  up  those  va- 
cancies which  accident,  insensible  perspiration,  or 
some  diminutive  acts  of  amputation  might  have 
inade.  While  on  the  contrary  we  cannot  annex  to 
any  amputated  part  the  idea  even  of  animation,  un- 
less we  first  suppose  the  part  in  question  to  be  united 
to  some  other  portion  of  matter,  possessed  of  that 
peculiar  organization  which  is  necessary  to  give  us 
the  idea  of  animal  life.  God,  no  doubt  could  give 
to  this  amputated  part  all  the  organs  which  are  ne- 
cessary to  the  functions  of  dependent'  beings.  But 
theh  it  must  be  remembered,  that  in  such  case  it 
will  be  no  longer  either  leg  or  arm,  but  a  distinct 
individual  of  some  unknown  species  of  being,  for 
which  we,  perhaps,  have  not  a  name. 


Stec*.!.}  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODV.  m 


CHAP.  V. 

ON  THE  A*krALOGY  B&TWEEN    VEGETATION  AND 
THE   llESVBRECTION  OF   THE  HUMAN  BOi)Y. 

SECTION  I. 

Th^t  the  Doctrine  of  the  Resurrection  has  fewer 
,     Difficulties  than  the  Doctrine  of  Vegetation, 

W  ttAT^VEU  difficulties  may  seem  to  clog  the  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection,  they  are  neither  greater  in 
themselves,  nor  more  in  number,  than  nature  exhib- 
its  in  almost  all  her  works.  It  is  true,  that  the  con- 
stant  repetition  of  a  wonder,  invariably  tends  to  les- 
sen our  astonishment,  and  we  continue  to  gaze  till 
we  behold  with  the  most  perfect  indifference  the 
most  astonishing  events,  as  the  Common  occurren- 
ces of  our  present  states 

-  The  power  and  process  of  vegetation,  which  are 
constantly  exhibited  before  our  eyes,  includes  se- 
crets which  we  cannot  unravel ;  and  when  viewed 
with  an  attentive  observation,  discover  mysteries 
which  are  by  far  more  unaccountable  than  any 
which  are  contained  in  the  belief  that  our  bodies  . 
shall  be  re-animated  in  some  future  period,  after 
the  great  recess  of  nature  in  the  grave  shall  have 
passed  and  be  totally  done  away. 


ir»        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap,  V. 

If  we  confine  our  observations,  on  the  analogy 
between  vegetation  and  the  resurrection,  to  vegeta* 
tion  in  its  most  simple  state  ;  and  only  presume 
that  one  grain  shall,  through  its  corruption,  pro- 
duce another  similar  to  itself,  we  must  at  least  ac- 
knowledge in  this  case,  that^he  difficulties  will  be 
equal ;  and  we  Qan  no  more  account  for  the  one 
than  we  can  comprehend  the  other.  But,  when  to 
this  simple  state  of  vegetation,  w.hich  we  have  sup- 
posed, we  add  that  p'>vver  of  multiplication  which 
it  possesses,  and  which  we  constantly  perceive  in 
the  production  and  re  producrion  of  grain  ;  the  dif- 
ficulties which  approach  us  are  most  decidedly  on 
the  part  of  vegetation,  while  the  doctrine  of  the  re- 
surrection stands,  comparatively,  unembarrassed 
with  any  obstacles  which  can  forbid  belief. 

If  the  power  and  process  of  vegetation  were  only 
known  in  theory  ;  and  if  that  theory  had  asserted, 
that  one  grain  of  wheat  ^as  capable  of  producing 
another  new  grain  by  the  dissolution  of  its  compo. 
nent  parts ;  if,  this,  I  say,  had  been  asserted  in  the- 
ory, only,  without  any  correspondent  fact  to  verify 
the  de  laration,  the  assertion  would  even  in  that  case 
have  had  greater  improbabilities  to  overcome  than 
the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  has  now.  For,  as 
nothing  of  a  sfmilar  nature  would  have  preceded  it 
in  point  of  fact  and  time,  even  the  possibilit)  of  rca- 
lizmp:  such  a  theory  would  be  rendered  doubtful, 
and  sctpticis'M  might  have  smiled  at  the  idle  vision, 
with  the  same  Sadduccan  sneer,  that  ir  now  bestows 
upon  the  notion  of  a  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

But,  if  in  that  early  period  which  we  have  sups 


5ect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  173 

posed,  the  asserters  of  future  vegetation,  proceeding 
further  in  their  speculations,  had  declared,  that  by 
some  incomprehensible,  but  prolific  power  existing 
in  nature,  one  grain  of  wheat  should  actually  pro- 
duce sixtj^  or  one  hundred  grains^  of  equal  magni- 
tude and  beauty  with  itself;  and  this  too,  through 
a  process  which  threatened  the  inevitable  destruc- 
tion of  all ;  I  cannot  doubt  but  sceptical  men, 
forming  their  calculations  from  mere  possibility, 
would  have  exploded  such  a  declaration  as  some- 
thing too  romantic  and  visionary  to  occupy  a 
rational  mind.  For  as  the  certainty  of  vegetation 
could  not  in  this  case,  have  been  realized  by  fact, 
which  is  the  most  infallible  demonstration  of  theory  ; 
there  could  have  been  no  foundation,  on  which  the 
mind  could  rest  to  form  its  calculations  on  the  pos- 
sibility of  such  an  issue; — a  foundation,  which  is 
in  the  case  of  the  resurrection,  all  nature  annually 
supplies  by  analogy. 

Hence  then  it  follows,  that  more  probability 
jnust  now  rest  on  the  side  of  the  resurrection,  if  it 
were  to  be  asserted  that  one  human  body  should 
produce  sixty,  or  one  hundred  bodies,  of  equal  mag- 
nitude and  beauty  with  itself,  from  that  which  is 
now  sown  in  the  earth,  to  be  the  germ  of  future 
life  ;  than  could,  in  the  case  supposed,  have  rtsted 
upon  ti^e  vegetation  and  production  of  grains  the 
certainty  of  which  is  demonstrated  by  fact.  For, 
had  an  objection  been  stated  against  the  possibility 
of  the  fact,  in  ihe  case  of  vegetation ;  as  nature 
could  have  furnished  no  analogy  in  its  favour,  the 
objection  must  have  remained  in  all  its  force ;  and 


in      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION       [Chap.  V. 

plausibility  must  have  rested  on  the  side  of  incredu- 
lity.  and  have  given  a  sanction  to  error  without  af- 
fording it  any  defence.  But,  were  it  now  to  be  as* 
sertcd,  that  one  human  body  shall  produce  sixty,  or 
one  hundred /\n  the  great  harvest  of  human  nature, 
as  we  have  the  analogy  of  vegetation  before  us,  the 
fact  itself  would  be  rescued  from  the  charge  of 
being  an  inipossibilitii ;  and,  on  that  account,  when 
compared  with  Vegetation,  in  its  primary  state,  must 
have  a  decided  claim  upon  our  belief. 

Under  these  circumstances,  and  this  view  of  the 
comparison,  though  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
has  been  placed  under  disadvantages  which  have  no 
existence,  the  result  even  under  these  forbidding 
circumstances  appears  highly  favourable ;  and  the 
fact  has  every  advantage  over  that  which  is  annually 
accomplished,  with  which  it  has  been  compared. 

If  then  that  which  is  the  more  improbable  of  the 
two  cases  be  actually  accomplished ;  have  we  just 
reason  to  remain  in  doubt  about  that  which  is  the 
less  ?  If  the  mysterious  multiplication  of  grain  an- 
Kually  takes  place  for  the  use  and  support  of  man  ; 
can  we  really  disbelieve  the  certainty  of  those 
changes  which  shall  take  place  in  man  himself;  for 
whose  benefit  all  other  changes  have  been  made ; 
and  to  whose  purposes  vegetation  has  been  made  in. 
variably  subservient?  Surely,  such  conclusions 
cannot  result  from  the  decisions  of  reason.  The 
events  which  have  already  taken  place,  demonstrate 
the  possibility  of  the  fact,  and  deprive  infidelity  of 
those  arguments  which  are  necessary  to  urge  us  to 
disbelieve. 


S^et,  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  175 

Hitherto  the  comparison  has  been  considered  un- 
der  the  supposition,  that  one  body  will  produce  07ie 
hundred  i  and  even  in  this  light,  admitting  the  sup- 
position to  have  been  founded  upon  fact,  the  pro- 
cess of  nature  will  furnish  us  with  ample  instances 
to  justify  our  belief.  For,  though  we  might  plead 
that  we  know  not  hotv  a  fact  so  strange  should  be 
accomplished ;  yet  the  want  of  ability  tq  compre- 
hend, can  no  more  be  admitted  as  an  argument 
against  the  resurrection  under  all  these  disadvanta- 
ges, than  the  same  circumstance  can  be  admitted  as 
an  argument  against  the  productions  of  the  soil. 
In  the  process  of  nature,  we  Jiave  placed  before  us 
the  certaiitty  of  the  fact,  in  the  case  of  vegetation ; 
and  this  certainly  becomes  a  presumptive  argument 
in  favour  of  the  great  event  which  yet  remains  to  be 
verified  by  accomplishment ;  probability,  therefore, 
directs  us  in  our  decisions,  and  just  analogy  re- 
moves the  hindrances  to  our  belief. 

But  if  we  wave  these  conclusions  and  that  com- 
parison, which,  for  the  sake  of  argument,  have  been 
adopted,  and  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  doctrine  as 
we  really  expect  to  find  it  verified  by  fact,  namely, 
that  one  individual  body  sown  in  weakness,  shall 
be  one  individual  body  raised  in  power  ;  the  argu- 
ment, drawn  from  the  analogy  of  vegetation,  ap- 
pears in  favour  of  the  resurrection,  with  the  most 
decided  superiority.  For,  while  the  multiplication 
of  grain  clogs  vegetation  with  difficulties,  which  no- 
thing but  fact  could  overcome  :  v/e  have  in  the  case 
of  the  resurrection  but  one  obstacle,  and  even  this 
appears  to  have  been  removed  by  analogy  drawn 


\76        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  V. 

from  a  simple  process  of  nature,  putting  forth  her 
prolific  influence  and  power, 

1  he  apparent  corruption,, to  which  a  grain  when 
deposittd  m  the  eanh  is  exposed,  and  which  it  ac- 
tually undergoes,  is  demonstrated  by  faCt,  to  be  no- 
thing more  than  the  removal  of  exuviae  which  is 
necessary  to  the  dawnings  of  latent  life.  And,  in  like 
manner  we  may  reasonably  presume,  that  the  por- 
tion of  immoveable  matter  which  now  constitutes  the 
identity  of  the  body,  and  is  destined  to  become  the 
germ  of  future  life,  will  vegetate  in  the  grave  when 
disencumbered  of  all  the  particles  of  flesh  and  blood 
which  now  inclose  and  surround  it.  And  if  analogy 
may  be  permitted  to  become  our  guide,  we  may 
justl)  inier,  that  it  will  ripen  through  the  mysterious 
process  of  dissolution,  till  the  jiour  appointed  for 
the  general  resurrection,  when  it  shall  come  forth  a 
glorious  body  to  remain  forever :  and,  leaving  be- 
hind it  those  extraneous  parts,  which  are  essential 
to  our  existence  here,  but  inapplicable  to  our  future 
mode  of  being,  it  shall  be  cemented  to  its  immatc^ 
rial  partner,  in  an  union  that  shall  never  end. 

If  we  turn  our  thoughts  in  a  retrospective  manner 
to  the  original  ancestors  of  man,  and  1  >ok  back  to  a 
period  anterior  to  the  production  of  grain  ;  we  can- 
not but  conclude  that  they  must  have  been  precisely 
in  the  same  situation  with  respect  to  their  opinions 
of  vegetation,  and  the  resurrection  of  the  human 
body,  when  both  cases  are  considered  in  the  abstract 
only.  But,  in  a  relative  view,  their  descendants 
have  a  most  decided  advantage.  They  could  have 
had  no  guide  from  the  analogy  of  nature,  to  induce 


Sect.  1.3  OE  THE  HUMAN  BODY,  177 

a  belief,  that  what  was  once  deposited  in  the  earth 
and  consigned  over  to  corruption,  would  ever  spring 
forth  anew ;  whereas  the  fact  is  annually  exhibited 
before  us ;  and  we  are  taught  to  believe  that  what 
has  been  thus  accomplished  in  the  case  of  grain  will 
be  accomplished  also  in  the  case  of  our  bodies  iat 
the  resurrection ;  and  by  the  same  power  which 
hourly  bids  all  nature  vegetate,  and  planetary 
worlds  revolve. 

To  such  comparisons  and  sentiments  it  may  per- 
haps be  objected,  "  That  the  vegetation  returns  at 
regular  and  stated  periods ;  and  that  those  periodi- 
cal returns  of  seasons  furnish  the  mind  with  evi- 
dence, on  which  to  rest  its  expectations  and  belief,'* 
How  plausible  soever  this  objection  may  appear,  it 
is  evidently  founded  upon  a  local  and  contracted 
survey.  Encircled  with  appearances,  we  may  per-- 
mit  it  to  operate  upon  our  minds  ;  but  when  placed 
upon  its  proper  foundation,  it  will  be  found  fallaci- 
ous, inapplicable,  and  absurd. 

Had  man  been  in  existence  when  vegetation  first 
began,  he  could  have  had  no  knowledge  from  fact, 
of  those  regular  returns  of  seasons  which  we  expe- 
rience ;  and  consequently  the  argument  now  before 
us,  could  not  then  have  applied,  because  it  could 
not  have  had  any  existence.  It  was  only  a  lapse  of 
staled  periods  that  could  have  suggested  to  them 
those  ideas,  on  which  the  objection  is  founded ;  but 
which  could  then  have  had  no  influence  whatever 
upon   their  minds.     And,  so  repugnant  must   this 

fact  then  have  been  to  all  human  modes  of  abstract 

A  a 


in       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  V. 

reasoning,  that  nothing  but  ocular  demonstration 
could  have  determined  in  favour  of  these  certain- 
ties which  now  appear. 

And  indeed,  if  we  only  alter  the  sera  and  bring 
home  the  case  to  the  present  day,  it  will  appear  pre- 
cisely the  same.  If  God  were  to  create  a  man  at 
this  moment  in  a  state  of  perfect  maturity,  with  all 
his  faculties  and  intellectual  powers  in  perfect 
bloom,  but  at  the  same  time  totally  ignorant  of  the 
productions  of  nature ;  would  this  man,  I  would 
ask,  have  any  idea  of  the  powers  of  vegetation? 
Could  he  conceive  the  thing  possible,  that  one  grain 
should  be  capable  of  producing  another,  and  that 
through  the  very  medium  which  proved  its  destruc- 
tion ?  It  is  a  self-evident  case,  that  under  these  cir- 
cumstances, nothing  but  time  or  information  could 
have  communicated  lohim  this  knowledge. 

In  relation  to  the  resurrection  alone,  we  are  now 
precisely  in  the  same  situation.  The  first  man  in- 
deed that  was  actually  created,  must  have  been,  in 
darkness  with  respect  to  the  production  of  grain, 
initil  the  first  harvest  had  made  its  appearance. 
But  wc,  having  had  experience  of  the  fact,  pursue 
a  train  of  analogical  reasoning,  which  we  transfer 
to  tha  resurrection  of  the  body  ;  and  obtain  through 
this  medium  a  species  of  evidence  which  impresses 
conviction  on  our  reasoning  powers. 

We  are  now  in  the  infancy  of  our  being  ;  and  we 
look,  forward  to  a  future  harvest,  with  a  pleasing 
commixture  of  certainty  and  hope.  We  walk,  with 
respect  to  rational  evidence,  in  the  twilight  of  our 
future  day,  upon  those  margins  which  divide  dark. 


Sect.  IL]  OF  THE 'HUMAN  BODY.  i?S 

ness  from  light,  while  they  apparently  connect 
them  together.  In  this  region  we  stumble  perhaps 
over  a  thousand  errors,  which  might  have  been  ea- 
sily avoided,  if  our  organs  had  been  more  acute,  our 
understandings  more  penetrating ;  or,  if  God  had 
thought  proper  to  give  us  light,  where,  for  wise 
ends,  he  has  permitted  us  to  walk  in  shade; 
But,  when  these  shadows  shall  be  dispersed,  and  the 
great  harvest  of  humin  nature  shall  arrive ;  when 
"beauty  immortal  shall  awake  from  the  tomb," 
and  the  great  enemy  of  man  shall  be  destoyed ; 
then  shall  we  behold  the  various  movements  of  Al- 
mighty power  and  goodness  towards  us,  which  we 
cannot  now  fully  comprehend ;  and,  probably,  trace 
through  all  its  parts,  that  perfect  analogy,  which 
subsists  between  the  happy  subject  of  illustration 
which  St.  Paul  has  chosen,  and  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  from  the  sleep  of  death. 


SECTION.  II. 

That  all  objections  usually  advanced  against  the 
Doctrine  oj  the  Resurrection^  may  be  advanced 
against  the  doctri?ie  of  Vegetatioju 

There  is  perhaps,  in  the  vast  empire  of  created 
nature,  scarcely  any  subject  to  be  found  more  appro- 
priate in  all  its  parts,  to  illustrate  the  important  doc- 
trine of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead,  than  the  pro- 
duction of  a  plant  from  grain,  which  St.  Paul  has 


180  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECI'ION  [Chap.  V. 

SO  happily  selected.  (1  Cor.  xv.)  The  objections, 
which  may  be  advanced  against  the»former,  are  alike 
applicable  to  the  latter ;  but  in  this  case  fact  has 
deprived  them  of  all  their  force.  "      '    ^ 

However  plausible  such  objectidn:^  may  be  in 
thems&lves,    which   will   apply   with  equal   forc^', 
against  the  proees^  of  vegetation,  &nd  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  dead  ;  it  ii  evidi^ht   that   they  must  be 
delusive  and   utisOimd.     The   iictUal    existence"  isf 
Vegetation  proves,   that   rfll   objections   against  it, 
however  specji^is,-  rtiuat  necessarily  be  fallacious; 
aifd  this   circufttstaiUf^  fiirmshes  us  ^nth  a*  strong 
pres'undptive  evidencejthat  the  application  of  these 
objections  to   th^  res^-itrection  must   assuredly  b6 
unjust.     For,  certain  it  i^j-  that  iniproportion  as  the 
analogy  between  the  re^urrectionof  the-  body,  and 
the.  production  of  grain  can  be  establ-islied  ;  every 
argument  of  a  partial  natuic  must  be  abolislied;  and 
while  the   actual   existence  of  vegetation  demon- 
strates its  certainty,  those  arguments  which  are  of 
a  general  nature  can  no  longer  apply.     And,  if  nei- 
ther general  nor  particular  arguments  will  apply  ;  if 
those  which  are  general,   are  refuted  by  the  exist- 
ence of  vegetation,   and  those  which  are  particular 
by  the  analogy   which  subsists  between  the  resur- 
rection and  the  production  of  grain  ;  all  our  objec- 
tions immediately  vanish,  and  the  presumptive  evi- 
deiicc'Avhich  we  draw  from  the  certainty  of  vegeta- 
tion, will  establish  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection 
upon  a  basis  not  easily  to  be  destroyed. 

It  is,  probably,  on  these  considerations  that  argu- 
ments of  a  general  nature  are  rarely  brought  against 


Sect.  li.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  iSi 

the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  In  the  visible  produc- 
tions of  nature  they  would  tneet  a  decided  atisvver, 
and  be  immediately  defeated  in  their  primary  de- 
sign. But,  where  an  objection  can  be  started  on  the 
ground  of  incongruity  between  the  process  of  vege-^ 
tation  and  the  resurrection  ;  it  affords  the  most  fa- 
vourable opportunity  for  attacking  the  doctrine ; 
and  it  is  from  this  quarter  that  the  most  plausible 
oBjections,  and  the  most  specious  arguments  are 
advanced.  If,  therefore,  the  resemblance  between 
the  production  of  grain  and  the  doctrine  in  question; 
between  the  doctrine  of  St,  Paul,  and  the  examples 
which  he  has  chosen  to  illustrate  it,  can  be  estab* 
Hshed ;  every  objection  which  can  be  raised  must 
be  resolved  into  a  declaration,  that  it  surpasses  our 
comprehension  i  while  the  fact  itself,  in  the  produc- 
tions ot  riature",  will  afford  us  perpetual  evidence  of 
certaint}^  till  se^d  titne  and  harvest,  till  cold  and 
heat,  till  day  and  night  shall  be  no  more. 

It  is,  perhaps,  from  a  persuasion  of  incongruitj'' 
between  vegetation  and  the  resurrection,  that  it  has 
been  asserted,  that  "  the  time  while  the  seed  is  de- 
posited in  the  earth,  can  bear  no  proportion  to  the 
length  of  that  period,  during  which  the  body  is  de- 
posited in  the  grave."  In  point  of  duration,  I  grant 
that  there  is  no  proportion  ;  but  I  cannot  conceive 
that  this  circumstance  wdll  add  any  weight  to  the 
objection  before  us.  Even  different  species  of  the 
vegetable  tribes  vary  in  the  periods  of  their  continu- 
ance in  the  earth  before  they  vegetate ;  the  exam- 
ple of  no  one  species  can  determine  the  necessary 


183         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  V. 

duration  of  another,  or  fix  those  lines  beyond  which 
the  powers  of  nature  shall  cease  to  operate.  Much 
less  then  can  we  presume,  from  our  knowledge  of 
vegetation,  where  we  thus  behold  one  species  so 
considerably  differing  from  another,  to  fix  the  length 
of  that  period  hi  which  the  body  must  be  lodged 
in  the  grave,  before  it  can  be  ripened  for  the  har- 
vest of  mankind. 

That  certain  portions  of  time  elapse,  during  which 
both  the  grain  and  the  human  body  are  deposited 
in  the  eanh,  before  either  discovers  any  signs  of 
returning  Ife,  is  a  truth  which  no  one  can  deny  ; 
and  the  only  point,  which  can  create  a  difference  in 
opinion,  is,  how  far  these  portious  of  duration  ought 
to,  fix  the  timits  of  each  other  ? 

If  God  be  able  to  preserve  the  germinating  qua- 
lity of  a  gr  J  in  of  wheat,  though  but  for  one  day, 
while  the  component  parts  of  the  grain  itself  arc 
sinking  into  a  state  of  dissolution,  which  no  man 
can  deny,  he  can  in  the  same  manner  preserve  it  for 
two  days ;  and  if  so,  he  can  for  the  same  reason,  pre- 
serve it  for  two  months,  for  two  years,  or  for  two 
centuries.  And,  the  selfsame  power  operating  upon 
the  selfsame  substance,  can  produce,  whensoever  it 
pleases,  the  same  effect,  through  all  the  varied 
modes  of  possibility ;  without  having  any  respect 
whatever  to  the  limits  of  duration. 

From  hence  then  the  analogy  will  hold  good,  in 
the  application  of  this  principle  to  the  preservation 
of  those  parts,  which  shall  constitute  our  future 
bodies.     For,  as   God  preserves   the  germinating 


( 

Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  ^183 

power  of  the  grain,  when  sown  in  the  earth,  through 
a  given  period ;  he  can  upon  the  same  principle 
preserve  the  body  through  the  same  extent  of  time. 
And,  as  God  can  and  actually  does  preserve  the 
grain  for  several  months,  before  it  appears  iii  the 
future  harvest ;  we  cannot  doubt  his  power  to  pre- 
serve the  human  body  in  the  grave,  througli  ihe 
same  extent  of  duration. 

And  if,  when  both  seed  and  body  are  deposited 
in  the  earth,  God  should  be  pleased  to  suspend  tliQ 
process  of  future  life  in  either ;  no  one,  who  will 
admit  his  power  to  be  infinite,  can  doubt  his  ability 
to  accomplish  that  design  ;  nor  question  his  ability 
at  the  same  time,  to  preserve  the  germinating  quali- 
ties of  both,  while  the  component  parts  of  each  are 
scattered  abroad  and  permitted  to  wander  m  a  state 
of  dissolution.  And,  if  God  can  suspend  the  pro- 
cess of  vegetation  for  one  month,  while  he  preserves 
the  germinating  quality  perfect  and  entire  ;  he  can 
preserve  it  for  one  year,  for  five  hundred,  or  for  any 
given  period  which  lies  within  the  reach  of  numbers. 

So  far  as  these  observations  apply  to  grain,  we 
are,  perhaps,  ready  to  give  them  our  assent ;  but 
even  here  we  admit  the  probability  of  the  case, 
from  the  partial  certainty  which  we  have  presented 
to  us  in  fact ;  but  beyond  this  scepticism  of  the  hu- 
jnan  mind,  the  fact  itself  will  hardly  permit  us  to 
pass.  It  is  nevertheless  certain,  when  we  view  these 
probabilities  in  their  abstract  nature  ;  that  they  are 
not  exclusively  confined  to  the  vegetative  powers 
of  grain.  Omnipotence  can  exert  itself  in  every 
direction  ;  and,  sipce  the  human  body  includes  not 


184      IDENTITY  AND  Resurrection,  tch^p.  v. 

within  its  nature  properties  more  opposed  to  future 
lift- ,  than  that  gram  which  is  annually  rcrproduced  ; 
the  length  of  time,  during  which  the  body  is  depo- 
sited in  the  earth,  can  form  no  argument  to  destroy 
the  analogy  between  the  resurrection  and  vegetation. 

As,  therefore,  God  can  preserve  the  grain  through 
any  given  period  ;  he  can  without  all  doubt  preserve 
the  body  through  the  same  extent  of  duration. 
And  the  same  pow  r  which  can  preserve  all  that  is 
essential  to  either  for  two  monUis  ;  can,  by  extend- 
ing the  same  exerti(m,  preserve  both  through  any 
given  portion  of  duration  And  this  power,  conse- 
quently, can  preserve,  during  our  repose  in  the 
grave,  all  that  is  necessary  to  constitute  our  future 
bodies,  wiihout  involving  any  thing  of  greater  diffi- 
culty, than  is  included  in  the  preservation  of  that 
grain  which  is  deposited  in  l;he  earth  for  the  ensu- 
ing harvest. 

With  God  one  daij  must  be  as  a  thousand  years, 
and  a  thausajid  years  as  one  day.  The  fleeting  pe- 
riods of  perishing  duration  can,  therefore,  have  no 
relation  to  him.  Our  loca]  and  finite  notions  must 
be  applied  to  local  and  finite  objects  ;  while  what- 
ever is  infinite  must  be  removed  at  an  infinite  dis- 
tance from  these  views. 

If  successive  existence  were  to  apply  to  God,  he 
must  have  been  older  yesterday  than  he  was  the 
day  preceding ;  and  must  have  been  younger  on 
both  than  he  is  to  day,  or  than  he  will  be  to-morrow. 
Thi  re  can  be  no  way  to  avoid  these  conclusions ; 
and  vet  if  we  once  admit  them,   thev  will  immedi- 


Sect.  11.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  18^ 

ately  lead  us  to  deny  the  eternity  of  his  existence. 
But,  as  3uch  conclusions  cannot  be  admitted,  it  fol- 
lows, that  successive  existence  cannot  apply  to  him ; 
and,  consequently,  one  day  must  be  with  him  as  <? 
ihotisand  yearsy  and  a  thousand  years  as  one  day. 

And,  to  that  being,  with  whom  one  day  and  a 
thousand  years  are  alike,  the  influence  of  time  can 
never  reach.  And  consequently,  whether  it  be  a 
grain  of  wheat  or  a  human  body  deposited  in  the 
earth ;  and  whether  it  be  for  two  days,  or  two  thou- 
sand years,  the  nature  of  the  case  cannot  be  thereby 
affected.  Every  objection,  therefore,  which  may 
be  made  against  the  incongruity  of  the  cases,  or  the 
disproportion  of  time ;  whether  it  applies  to  the  ger- 
minating parts  of  a  grain,  or  to  that  immoveable 
portion  of  matter  which  constitutes  the  identity  of 
the  human  body,  must  vanish  into  empty  air. 

It  may,  perhaps,  in  the  next  place  be  asserted, 
*'  that  where  the  grain  is  deposited  in  the  earth,  it 
instantly  begins  to  vegetate,  which  is  a  circumstance 
that  will  not  apply  to  the  human  body  ;"  and  from 
hence  it  may  be  objected,  that  "  between  vegeta- 
tion and  the  resurrection  all  analogy  is  destroyed." 
That  the  above  observation  will  apply  to  the  grain, 
when  deposited  in  the  earth,  I  believe  no  one  will 
presume  to  doubt ;  but  that  this  is  a  case  which  will 
not  apply  to  the  human  body,  is  a  point  which  I 
conceive  it  will  be  difficult  to  prove. 

Of  the  grand  process  of  nature  we  know  but  a 
little  part ;  and  in  a  variety  of  cases,  her  movements 
are  so  slow  that  her  active  energies  are  almost  im- 
perceptible.    How  slow  must  the  great  progress  of 

Bb 


1'86        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    tChap.  V. 

nature  have  been,  which  has  preserved  the  seminal 
parts  of  all  the  future  embryos  of  the  human  race, 
through  all  ihe  antediluvian  ages ;  and  which  has 
been  perpetually  at  work  to  ripen  these  seminal 
parts  into  embryos;  and  which  still  continues  at 
work  to  ripen  these  embryos  into  man  ?  Who  can 
trace  the  tardy  movements  of  nature,  in  these,  and 
in  a  variety  of  similar  instances?  If  then  these 
tardy  movements  have  been,  and  still  are  necessary, 
to  ripen  the  seminal  parts  into  an  embryo,  and  this 
embryo  into  man  ;  why  may  we  not  rationally  sup- 
pose, that  the  same  tardy  movements  may  continue 
to  follow  us  in  the  grave ;  to  ripen  our  bodies  for 
their  future  harvest,  and  to  prepare  them  for  their 
destined  habitations. 

The  identical  moment  in  which  nature  commen- 
ces her  operations,  is  probably  in  all  cases  too  refin- 
ed for  our  discernment ;  on  which  account  we  can 
never  fix  with  exactness  the  original  moment  of  ac- 
tion. Nothing,  however,  appears  irrational  in  the 
supposition,  that  the  preparation  of  our  bodies  for 
their  future  resurrection,  commences  immediately 
after  the  fleeting  breath  forsakes  the  trembling  lips. 
It  may  begin  in  the  same,  or  in  a  manner  somewhat 
similar  to  that  of  a  grain,  which  begins  to  vegetate 
as  soon  as  it  is  sown  in  the  prolific  earth. 

That  we  cannot  perceive  its  movements  in  either 
case,  I  most  readily  admit.  Our  organs  of  percep- 
tion are  rather  adapted  to  our  present  condition, 
than  to  those  distant  branches  of  action,  which  bor- 
der on  perpetual  life.  But,  our  want  of  perception 
in  these  cases,  can  no  more  be  admitted  as  an  areu- 


$ect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  18^7 

ment  against  progressive  movement ;  than  our  want 
of  comprehension  in  others  can  be  admitted  as  an 
argument  against  fact. 

The  secret  changes  which  imperceptibly  take 
place  in  our  bodies,  while  in  the  grave  ;  are,  without 
doubt,  all  necessary  to  luring  forth  into  perfection 
that  body  which  shall  be  ;  and  the  grave  in  all  pro- 
bability, is  to  us  the  great  alembic  of  nature  and  of 
God,  to  fix  the  constitution  of  our  future  bodies, 
and  to  qualify  those  bodies  for  their  immortal  state. 
In  this  peaceful  region  of  the  dead,  the  latent  pow- 
ers and  faculties,  which  in  an  embryo  condition  lie 
dormant,  inactive,  and  imperceptible  in  our  present 
state,  may  begin  to  put  forth  their  energies  and 
powers,  in  ways  and  modes  of  which  we  can  form 
no  adequate  conception.  Removed  from  the  pre- 
sent  life  to  a  region  more  congenial  to  their  natures, 
they  may  begin  to  bud  in  the  cold  embrace  of  death, 
and  put  forth  those  blossoms  which  shall  become 
visible  in  the  hour  of  our  resurrection,  and  flourish 
through  eternity. 

The  various  stages,  through  which  we  have  al- 
ready passed  in  our  embiyo  state,  have  all  conspired 
to  produce  this  state  of  imperfect  maturity,  at  which 
we  are  now  arrived  ;  and  from  hence  we  may  justly 
infer,  that  the  great  process  will  be  carried  onward 
during  our  repose  in  the  grave,  to  ripen  us  for  a 
more  exalted  state  of  perfection,  which  shall  take 
place,  when  the  trumpet  shall  sound  and  the  dead 
shall  be  raised  incorruptible,  and  we  shall  be  changed. 

Were  it  not  for  those  changes,  through  which  we 
have  already  passed,  our  present  state  of  perfectioiii 


m        IDENTltY  AND  ftESlJRRECtlON    [Chap*  V. 

could  never  have  been  attained  ;  and  but  for  those 
changes  which  death  shall  occasion  in  our  bodies, 
the  more  exalted  perfections  of  an  immortal  condi- 
tion must  be  forever  placed  beyond  our  reach. 

The  erhbryo  faculties  and  powers,  which  were  Irt- 
eorporated  with  our  essence,  from  the  formation  of 
the  ancestors  of  human  nature,  and  which  have  lain 
dormant  from  Adam  downward  to  the  present  hour ; 
have  probably  occupied  a  soil,  which  has  been  con- 
dusiveto  their  preservation,  but  uncongenial  to  their 
growth.  The  progress  of  time  may  have  matured 
those  original  powers  which  we  now  possess  in  all 
their  plenitude ;  and  having  accomplished  its  office, 
by  rendering  them  subservient  to  the  purposes  of 
the  present  life,  at  the  hour  of  death  it  may  recal  itd 
operative  influence,  and  consign  over  the  body  to 
the  repose  of  the  grave,  in  which  sta(e  these  embryo 
faculties  may  begin  to  emerge  from  an  apparently 
torpid  condition,  and  to  put  forth  those  active  ener- 
gies, which  anirtial  life  was  unable  to  produce. 

Nor  can  these  conjectural  probabilities,  how 
strange  soever  they  may  seem,  appear  repugnant  to 
reason.  The  embryo  state,  through  which  we  have 
already  passed,  in  the  early  stages  of  our  imperfect 
being,  has  given  place  to  animal  life,  without  which 
our  animal  functions  could  not  have  been  perform, 
ed  ;  while  mere  ammal  life,  in  its  turn,  has  prepared 
the  way  for  the  more  exalted  refinements  of  rational 
existence.  And,  when  stages  of  our  being  shall 
have  accomplished  the  designs  of  God  ;  these  fac- 
ilities in  like  manner,  we  may  reasonably  conclude, 
V/ill  partially  subside  in  the  great  recess  of  nature; 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  169 

and  give  through  the  repose  of  the  grave,  to  other 
faculties,  an  opportunity  to  advance  also  towards 
completion.  Then,  when  that  body  which  shall  be 
hereafter  exalted  to  a  state  of  pe.  feet  maturity,  shall 
have  its  faculties  and  powers  full  blown  ;  the  two 
distinct  substances  which  constitute  the  essence  of 
tn^,  shall  be  united  together,  and  go  forth  in  an 
eternal  world  to  remain  in  life  for  ever. 

From  these  considerations,  therefore,  the  conclu- 
sions appear  more  than  probable,  that  ail  those  ob- 
jections which  may  be  raised  against  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body,  will  in  almost  all  instances,  apply 
with  equal,  and  sometimes  with  superior  force 
against  the  process  of  vegetation.  And  from  a  prin- 
ciple of  strict  analogy,  if  this  be  permitted  to  become 
our  guide,  it  will  follow  also,  that  the  instant  death 
shall  close  our  eyes  in  darkness,  and  render  our 
limbs  stiff  and  motionless,  the  grand  process  of  our 
future  bodies  shall  commence,  when  they  shall  enter 
Upon  those  changes  which  are  necesssary  to  mature 
them  for  the  grand  result  of  things. 

SECTION  III. 

Thai  the  analogy,  betzoeen  Vegetation  and  the  Be-^ 
surrection  oj  the  Body,  is  nut  destroyed  by  the 
Jiiequaliiies  of  Time,  during  zvhich  the  bodies  of 
different  Men  repose  in  the  grave. 

In  tracing  the  analogy  between  the  process  of  ve- 
getation and  that  of  the  resurrection,  it  is  necessary 
that  both  subjects  be  placed  precisely  in  their  res- 


190      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION       [Chap.  V. 

pective  situations ;  since  without  this  it  will  be  im- 
possible to  investigate  with  accuracy,  to  compare 
with  justice,  or  to  decide  with  precision. 

The  process  of  vegetation  appears  before  us  in 
all  its  parts ;  and  we  trace  the  connections  and  de- 
pendencies of  its  different  stages,  from  its  com- 
mencement to  its  consummation  ;  and  erroneously 
transfer  the  rapidity  of  these  movements  to.  the  pro- 
cess of  the  resurrection,  though  we  can  behold  only 
its  shortest  siage  through  the  whole  progress  of 
human  life.  Such  circumstances  conduct  us  to 
error,  and  the  analogy  appears  inapplicable,  because 
the  comparison  has  been  unfairly  made.  But,  when 
we  divest  ourselves  of  these  contracted  views,  and 
extend  our  observations  to  the  vast  extremes  of  hu- 
man existence,  including  within  this  view  all  those 
varied  stages  which  have  already  taken  place,  and 
which  shall  take  place  hereafter,  from  the  primary 
formation  of  man,  to  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  which 
shall  awaken  the  dead ;  the  whole  scene  undergoes 
a  change,  and  the  horizon  of  human  existence  opens 
to  our  view. 

0!:)jections,  indeed,  from  partial  views,  may  oc- 
casionally be  started;  and  by  our  blending  together 
erroneous  circumstances,  seeming  incongruities  may 
appear.  But,  when  these  erroneous  circumstances 
and  comparisons  shall  be  removed,  the  incongrui- 
ties which  resulted  from  them  must  disappear  ;  and 
the  analogy  between  the  resurrection,  and  that  pro- 
cess ot  vegetation  by  which  an  inspired  writer  has 
chosen  to  illustrate  it,  will  staod  forth  in  all  il% 
beautv. 


Sect,  in.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  191 

Among  those  seeming  incongruities,  to  which 
such  improper  views  may  have  given  birth,  the  fol- 
lowing objection  claims  a  most  distinguished  rank. 
It  has  been  said,  "  that  the  periods  of  our  repose  in 
the  grave,  are  so  unequal  with  respect  to  different 
bodies  of  the  same  species,  that  no  resemblance 
can  be  traced  between  this  disproportion  and  the 
process  of  vegetation.''  And,  in  addition  to  the 
above  it  may  be  observed,  "  that  no  just  reason  can 
be  assigned  why  so  many  ages  should  elapse,  to 
ripen  the  bodies  of  the  antediluvians,  while  some  of 
the  future  generations  of  the  \^^orld  shall  be  matured 
in  an  inconceivably  shorter  time." 

To  these  objections,  could  no  other  reason  be  as- 
signed, it  might  be  sufficient  with  respect  to  the 
human  body  to  reply,  that  the  comparison  on  which 
they  are  founded  is  so  partial  and  circumscribed, 
that  it  includes  but  a  small  portion  of  human  exist- 
ence, considered  in  all  its  stages  of  graduated  being. 
In  vegetation  we  have  seen  the  grain  deposited  in 
the  earth,  and  we  have  seen  succeeding  harvests; 
but  in  relation  to  the  human  body,  we  have  only 
seen  the  grain  committed  to  the  soil,  but  we  have 
not  yet  waited  a  sufficiency  of  time  to  experience  a 
periodical  return.  We  are  continually  moving  on- 
ward, and  through  new  scenes  and  changes  which 
were  never  before  experienced  by  us  ;  we  are  urg- 
ing  our  way  in  the  midst  of  shadows  to  some  dis- 
tant gaol ;  and  evidently  preparing  for  some  event 
which  lies  before  us  in  an  eternal  world.  The  great 
movements  iri  our  different  stages  of  existence,  have 
not   yet   performed   their    respective   revolutions .; 


192  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  V. 

we  therefore  cannot  comprehend  with  precision  the 
different  events  which  await  us,  until  the  present 
universe  shall  be  swept  aside. 

In  the  present  progress  of  nature,  the  alternate 
succession  of  day  and  night  follows  in  regular  vicis- 
situdes ;  yet  we  well  know  that  a  much  slower  and 
more  important  movement  is  equally  discernible  in 
all  her  works ;  and  these  movements  may  be  traced 
both  in  the  relative  and  in  the  abstract  nature  of 
man.  We  well  know  that  the  fluctuating  baubles 
of  human  life,  can  bear  no  more  proportion  to  tlic 
great  drama  of  human  nature,  considered  under  all 
its  changes  and  revolutions,  than  the  diurnal  motion 
of  the  earth  or  the  periodical  changes  of  the  moon, 
can  to  the  revolutions  of  Satinm  or  of  IlerscheL 
Even  the  solar  system,  with  all  its  appendages  of 
planetary  worlds,  may  perhaps  have  some  secret 
and  stated  movements,  in  relation  to  other  systems  ; 
of  which  at  present  we  can  no  more  form  any  ade- 
quate conception,  than  we  can  of  the  manner  of  the 
production  of  a  grain  of  corn,  a  blade  of  grass,  or 
the  resurrection  of  the  body  from  the  grave. 

Of  this,  however,  we  are  fully  assured,  that  tlie 
same  almighty  power,  which  bounds,  and  fills  and 
encircles  all  created  nature,  is  equal  to  every  thing 
which  is  within  the  reach  of  possibility.  And,  while 
those  facts  which  it  has  already  accomplished,  stand 
forth  as  sensible  proofs  to  corroborate  the  certainty 
of  those  things  which  God  has  presented  to  our  be- 
lief, they  challenge  our  assent  even  in  those  cases 
where  we  can  trace  neither  analogy  nor  relation. 
Such  is  the  case,  where  revelation  stands  abstrac- 


beet.  III.}  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  .193 

tedly  from  all  corresponding  facts.  But  when,  as 
in  the  case  before  us,  we  trace  the  perfect  analogy 
which  subsists  between  these  facts  which  have  been 
already  accomplished,  and  those  which  we  expect 
to  take  place  hereafter ;  when  to  this  we  add,  that 
the  greatest  difficulties  lie  on  the  side  of  those  events 
which  have  already  taken  place;  the  evidence  forces 
itself  upon  us  with  an  energy  that  prejudice  only 
can  resist. 

To  ripen  the  latent  powers  and  faculties  of  our 
future  bodies,  that  virtual  existence  in  our  progeni- 
tors, which  we  have  already  experienced ;  may  be 
as  necessary  as  our  repose  in  the  grave.  And  the 
length  of  that  period,  which  elapses  in  the  former 
state,  may  render  it  necessary  that  the  latter  should 
be  of  shorter  duration  ;  so  that  instead  of  affording 
any  just  ground  for  objection,  it  becomes  an  instance 
in  which  we  join  necessity  to  fact.  Thus  then,  the 
longer  the  virtual  properties  of  the  human  body 
exist  in  a  seminal  state,  the  shorter  must  be  the 
period  of  duration  necessary  to  ripen  them,  either  in 
an  embryo  condition  in  the  present  life,  or  in  the 
grave  ;  and  to  prepare  them  through  the  stages  of 
various  being,  to  constitute  that  body  which  shall  be 
raised  in  immortal  vigour  to  be  dissolved  no  more. 

The  immediate  descendants  of  Adam  could  have 
slumbered  but  a  short  period  in  a  seminal  state ; 
and,  consequently,  the  period  of  their  repose  in  the 
grave  must  be  more  considerable  than  that  of  the 
next  generation.     The  inhabitants  of  the  Patriar- 

c  c 


104        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  V, 

chal  ages  approach  towards  a  nearer   proportion, 
between  a  seminal    state   of  repose  in  the  grave. 
While  those  who  lived  at  the  commencement  of  the 
Christian   sera,  may   approach   nearly  to  a  middle 
state ;  and  life  may  divide  with  them  the  whole  of 
their  varied  existence,  from  the  creation  of  Adam 
to  the   sound  of  the  trumpet  which  shall  call  the 
dead  to  life  ;  and  leave  an  equal  proportion,    for  a 
seminal  state,  prior  to  actual  life,  and  an  after  state, 
during  which  the  em.bryo  of  our  future  bodies  shall 
ripen  in  the  grave.     Those   on   the  contrary  who 
have  lived,  and  shall  be  in  the  subsequent  ages  of 
the  world,  having  slumbered  through  all  the  preced- 
ing ages  in  a  seminal  state,  will  require  but  a  short- 
er period  of  repose  in  the  regions  of  corruption ; 
while  the  last  survivors  of  the  human  race,  having 
passed  through  all  the  progenitors  of  mankind,  shall 
be  changed  in  a  moment^  in  the  tzvinhling  of  an  eye, 
and  start  forth  into  another  mode  of  being,  equally 
prepared  for  a  more  exalted  region,  with  the  bodies 
qI  Adam^  Seth,  or  Noah*, 

Under  these  circumstances,  which  must  be  ad- 
mitted to  be  hypothetically  probable;  the  grand 
schemes  of  Providence  will  go  on,  without  dispro- 
portion or  incongruity.  For,  if  to  slumber  in  our 
progenitors,  and  to  repose  in  the  grave,  be  alike 
conducive  to  the  perf'iction  of  that  body  which  God 
shall  give  us  hereafter;  if  both  states  be  alike  ne- 
cessary to  ripen  our  latent  faculties,  the  progress 
of  which  is  only  interrupted  by  the  short  interval  of 
our  present  life ;  we  shall  find  upon  a  fair  calcuLir 


Sect.  TIL]  GF  THE  HUMAN  BODY,  195 

tion,  that  all  the  individuals  of  the  human  race,  of 
every  age  of  the  world,  have  had  an  equal  share  of 
duration  in  one  or  other  of  these  modes  of  being,  to 
ripen  and  prepare  their  future  bodies  for  a  more  ex- 
alted condition  of  existence. 

Hence  then  it  follows,  that  the  differences  which 
subsist  between  the  ages  of  the  world,  in  which  dif- 
ferent individuals  have  lived,  can  have  no  influence 
upon  the  general  theory ;  nor  can  these  circum- 
stances affect  the  analogy  which  subsists  between 
the  process  of  vegetation  and  that  of  the  resurrec- 
tion, any  more  than  the  quickness  of  vegetation  in 
one  species,  can  destroy  the  analogy  between  it  and 
another,  which  moves  more  tardily ;  or,  than  the 
mountains  and  vallies  which  are  scattered  over  the 
surface  of  the  earth,  can  affect  the  rotundity  of  the 
globe.  And,  therefore,  as  no  argument  can  be 
drawn  from  the  inequalities  of  those  periods,  through 
which  our  bodies  exist  in  all  their  modes,  those 
which  are  drawn  from  partial  and  contracted  views 
of  the  subject  before  us,  must  disappear,  when 
we  view  the  resurrection  on  an  enlarged  and  more 
extensive  scale. 

The  possibility  J  the  pr  oh  ability  ^  and  the  moral 
certainty  which  will  appear  hereafter  in  favour  of 
the  resurrection,  when  we  come  to  consider  these 
sources  of  argument  which  we  have  already  ex- 
plored; must  far  outweigh  all  the  objections  which 
can  be  brought  against  the  analogy  and  the  fact. 
The  powerful  intimations  of  nature  must  soften  the 


r96  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  V. 

asperity  of  presumption;  and  urge  us  to  admit  the 
certainty  of  a  doctrine,  which  is  so  clearly  revealed 
in  the  written  word  of  God.' 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  further  objected  against  the 
analogy  for  which  I  contend,  *'  that  in  the  vegeta- 
tion of  a  grain  of  wheat,  its  germinating  powers  be- 
gin to  operate  before  any  of  its  component  parts 
are  dissolved  ;  but  that  in  the  case  of  the  human 
body,  dissolution  visibly  takes  place,  and  its  com- 
ponent parts  are  completely  separated,  without  af- 
fording us  any  discovery  of  retLyning  life."  It  is 
certain  that  the  objection  before  us  assumes  more 
than  ought,  on  the  present  occasion  to  be  granted. 
For,  whether  in  the  case  of  grain  the  germinating 
powers  begin  to  operate  before  the  component  parts 
are  partially  dissolved  :  or  whether  the  dissolution 
of  those  parts  precede  the  active  energy  of  the  gcr- 
minating  power ;  the  objection  cannot  disannul 
the  analogy  between  the  process  of  vegetation  and 
that  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  from  the  grave. 
The  movements,  which  take  place  in  the  body,  are 
too  slow  for  our  perception  :  and  as  this  circum- 
stance prevents  our  knouii^g  whether  dissolution 
precedes  the  active  energy  of  any  latent  powers, 
or  is  subsequent  to  it ;  that  knowledge  which  is  ne- 
cessary to  give  weight  to  the  objection  never  can 
be  obtained  ;  and  consequently,  the  objection  must 
be  deprived  of  that  foundation  on  which  it  is  pre- 
sumed to  rest.  It  seems,  however,  highly  probable 
tl^iat  dissolution  must  precede  the  active  energy  of 
all  vegetative  powers  in  the  case  of  grain. 


Sect.  ni.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  197 

If  vegetation  can  commence,  without  anj'  degree 
of  dissolution  or  decay  in  the  parent  grain,  no  rea- 
son can  be  adduced  from  the  nature  of  things,  why 
dissolution  should  be  necessary  for  its  support  in 
any  subsequent  period.  For,  if  the  process  of  veg- 
etation can  commence  without  any  dissolution,  it 
may  proceed,  and  if  it  proceed  it  may  continue,  and 
if  it  continue  it  may  be  completed,  without  requir- 
ing, in  any  stage  of  its  progress,  the  dissolution  of 
that  grain  from  whence  it  springs. 

If  dissolution  be  necessary  in  any  stage,  it  must 
be.  necessary  in  every  stage  ;  because  no  reason  can 
be  assigned  why  it  should  be  more  necessary  in  one 
stage  and  not  necessary  in  all.  And,  if  in  every 
stage  of  the  process  of  vegetation,  the  dissolution  (£ 
the  parent  grain  be  necessary  to  the  active  energy^ 
of  the  future  germ  ;  it  clearly  follows,  that  the  activ- 
ity of  this  germinating  power,  must  be  dependent 
upon  that  dissolution  which  preceded  it,  and,  there- 
fore, that  dissolution  on  which  the  active  powers  of 
vegetation  are  dependent,  must  necessarily  claim  a 
priority  of  existence  to  those  powers  which  are  de- 
pendent on  it. 

If  the  germ  which  vegetates,  springs  from  the 
parent  grain,  which  no  one  will  deny  ;  then  the 
germ  itself  must  either  form  a  part  of  the  identity  .of 
that  parent  grain,  or  it  must  be  extraneous  to  it. 
In  the  former  case,  dissolution  must  be  necessary 
to  vegetation ;  and  in  the  latter,  the  parent  grain 
and  the  future  germ  can  have  no  kind  of  natural 
connection  with  each  other.  To  admit  the  latter 
case,  is  to  admit  that  a  parent  grain  includes  with- 


198       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  V. 

in  its  nature  a  future  germ,  and  does  not  include 
it  at  the  same  time,  which  is  a  plain  contradiction  ; 
and  to  admit  the  former,  is  to  acknowledge  the  pre- 
vious existence  of  dissolution,  which  totally  de- 
stroys the  ground  on  which  the  objection  was  rais- 
ed. As,  therefore,  that  germ  which  shall  hereafter 
vegetate,  must  be  now  included  in  those  compo- 
nent parts  from  whence  the  identity  of  the  parent 
grain  is  denominated ;  it  plainly  follows,  that  this 
germ  must  form  a  part  of  its  numerical  identit}^  and 
consequently,  that  a  partial  dissolution  must  neces- 
sarily take  place  to  produce  that  change  which  veg- 
etation implies. 

In  the  order  of  time,  vegetation  may  indeed  suc- 
ceed so  closely  to  the  partial  decay  of  the  parent 
grain  that  no  interval  may  be  discerned ;  but  in 
the  order  of  nature,  dissolution  must  precede  that 
which  results  from  it,  and  leave  a  certain  interval 
of  duration,  though  it  may  be  too  minute  for  our 
faculties  to  discover.  And  if  dissolution  in  the  or- 
der of  nature,  precede  the  active  energy  of  vegeta- 
tion in  a  grain  of  wheat,  or  any  other  grain  ;  no  ar- 
giiment  can  possibly  be  drawn  from  the  dissolution 
of  its  component  parts,  to  support  that  objection 
which  would  destroy  the  analogy  between  the  pro- 
cess of  vegetation  and  the  resurrection  of  our  bodies 
from  the  grave. 

The  observations  which  have  been  thus  applied 
to  vegetation,  may  be  easily  transferred  to  the  ma- 
terial part  of  man;  in  both  cases  dissolution  must 
evidently  precede  vegetation ;  and  the  analogy 
holds  good,  how  much  soever  they  may  vary  from 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  m 

each  other  in  the  rapidity  of  their  movements,  and 
the  degrees  of  their  dissolution. 

The  differences  in  these  two  cases  before  us,  in 
the  degrees  of  their   dissolution,  during  the  same 
given  periods  of  duration,  may  produce  in  our  minds 
a  distinct  association  of  ideas  ;  but  this  cannot  alter 
either  the  things  themselves  which  we  thus  contem- 
plate,  or  the  power  of  God.     For,  although,  in  the 
case  of  vegetation,  we  behold  an  efficacy  of  power, 
which  in  that  of  the  human  body  we  are  unable  to 
discern ;    yet  the  same  or  similar  movements  may 
take  place,  though  by  more  imperceptible  grada-- 
tions.    This  much,  however^  is  certain,  that  in  those 
branches  of  comparison  which  we  now  contemplate, 
no  case  can  be  adduced,   which  will  destroy  the 
analogy  ;  while  those  objections  which  are  advanced 
against  the  resurrection  of  the  body  will  all  fall  with 
superior  weight  Upon  the  production  of  grain.     And 
since  in  the  production  of  grain  all  objections  against 
it  in  all  possible  forms  are  refuted  by  fact,  it  is  but 
rational  to  conclude  that  the  same  objections  which 
are  brought  against  the  resurrection,  are  capable  of 
being  refuted  in  a  similar  manner ;    since  in  both 
cases  the  circumstances  are  either  equal,  or  in  favour 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.     The  final  result 
must  therefore  be,  that  the  manner  in  which  disso- 
lution takes  place,  can   never  be  made  a  ground- 
work for  destroying  that  analogy   which  subsists 
between  the  case  which  we  have  compared  ;  nor  can 
it  afford  one  just  objection  against  the   resurrection 
of  the  body  from  the  grave. 

That  God  can  call  into  existence  a  numerous 


20»         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  V. 

race  of  creatures  endowed  with  all  the  forms  of  ani- 
mal life,  and  with  different  degrees  of  intellectual 
powers  in  endless  varict)  ;  and  that  he  can  preserve 
the  various  forms  of  being  given,  will  neither  admit 
of  doubt  nor  dispute  ;  the  theory  itself  being  demon- 
strated by  actual  fact.  That  these  beings  must 
have  had  a  beginning  we  are  \vell  assured,  because 
nothing  can  be  eternal  but  God ;  and  consequently 
there  must  iiuve  been  a  period  w^hen  even  creation 
could  have  had  no  existence.  In  that  distant  asra, 
creation  must  be  presumed  to  be  as  remote  from  all 
experimental  knowledge,  as  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  is  now.  If  then  we  carry  back  our  views  to 
this  important  period,  which  I  have  supposed,  and 
turn  our  thoughts  to  the  creation  of  the  world  with 
all  its  inhabitants  and  appendages  :  and  then  turn  to 
the  ground  on  which  we  now  stand,  and  contem- 
plate the  resurrection  of  the  dead ;  the  probability 
in  favour  of  the  latter,  exceeds  that  of  the  former 
in  a  much  greater  proportion  than  the  light  of  the 
bun  exceeds  that  of  the  lunar  sphere.  And  more 
arguments  can  be  advanced  to  prove  creation  impos- 
sible, than  can  now  be  advanced  to  prove  the  resur- 
rection improbable,  amidst  all  the  objections  that 
can  be  raised  against  it. 

And,  even  under  present  circumstances,  widi  cre- 
ation actually  existing  before  us,  and  with  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body,  considered  only  as  a  hypotheti- 
cal possibility,  the  difficulties  on  the  side  of  the  latter 
are  not  greater  than  on  that  of  the  former.  And  we 
are  at  as  great  a  loss  to  account  how  the  heavens 
and  earth  rose  out  of  chaos,  though  their  certainty 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  aoa 

is  now  demonstrated  by  fact ;  as  we  are  to  account 
for  the  resurrection  of  the  body  through  all  the 
various  and  astonishing  changes  which  it  must  here- 
after undergo. 

And  even,  without  having  any  reference  to  crea- 
j  tion  in  the  abstract,  if  we  only  recur  again  to  the 
process  of  vegetation,  which  is  annually  exhibited 
to  our  astonished  views,  in  all  the  regular  and  ir- 
regular stages  of  advancement ;  with  all  the  expe- 
rience of  five  thousand  years ;  with  all  the  end- 
less varieties  of  natural  productions,  imported  from 
every  climate  and  every  zone ;  with  all  the  resear- 
ches of  philosophy  ;  together  with  all  the  boasted 
discoveries  of  the  world,  the  wisest  man  alive  can  no 
more  ultimately  account  for  the  most  simple  pro- 
duction of  nature,  than  he  can  for  the  resurrection 
of  our  bodies,  or  the  spirituality  of  them,  when  they 
shall  be  clothed  with  immortality  and  swallowed 
up  in  life. 

The  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  amidst  all  those 
difficulties  wiih  which  it  is  encircled,  comes  forth  in 
an  apparently  spontaneous  manner  to  gratify  univer- 
sal desire  and  hope.  That  God  would  protract  our 
existence,  and  protect  us  from  sickness,  calamities, 
and  pains,  is  a  desire  which  seems  to  have  been  in- 
terwoven with  our  constitutions  in  our  primary  for- 
mation ;  and  is  one  of  those  motives  of  the  human 
bosom  which  appears  to  have  survived  the  fall. 
But,  It  is  a  desire  which  nothing  but  death,  and  a 
resurrection  from  his  cold  embrace,  seem  able  to 
accomplish.  There  is  nothing  but  this  which  can 
translate  us  into  a  peaceful  region,  where  human 

Dd 


^Of     '     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  V, 

nature  shall  meet  a  perfect  renovation  in  all  its  or- 
ganical  and  intellectual  powers ;  a  region  into  which 
the  body  shall  carry  its  final  modification,  and  pre« 
serve  all  those  essential  parts,  which  will  be  neces« 
sary  to  its  futnre  station  ;  a  region,  where  sickness, 
pains  and  calamities,  shall  be  known  no  more. 

Whether  perpetuity  were  added  to  the  being  of 
man  in  this  life,  or  another  is  not  for  man  to  decide. 
God  has  placed  our  permanent  strte  of  existence 
beyond  the  grave,  and  has  made  the  gloomy  terri- 
tory of  death  the  passage  through  which  we  must 
travel  in  order  to  attain  it.  The  dissolution  of  our 
bodies  is  a  necessary  consequence  of  death  ;  and 
both  become  morally  necessary  from  the  debilitated 
state  of  the  human  frame.  In  addition  to  these  cir- 
cumstances, when  we  consider  the  present  life  as  SL 
State  of  probation,  in  which  we  act  as  candidates  for 
one  of  retribution ;  the  dissolution  of  the  body  be- 
comes a  necessary  part  of  those  changes,  which 
ftiust  fit  and  prepare  us  for  that  state  of  being, 
where  changes  and  probation  must  be  alike  un- 
known. 

Were  it  not  for  dissolution,  no  alteration  could 
probably  ti.ke  place  in  our  condition  ;  and  then,  in* 
firmity  and  pain,  and  discord,  must  accompany 
MB  thfongh  every  stage  of  our  existence ;  even  if 
immortality  were  here  communicated  to  man. 
But,  when  we  behold  death,  and  its  attendant  dis- 
sohuion,  interposing  themselves  between  this  world 
and  the  next ;  we  see  a  final  period  put  to  our 
emaciated  frames,  and  we  behold  a  scene  unfold' 
incf  itself,  in  which  our  bodies  shall  appear  re:f  nc^^ 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  Sti^ 

ennobled,  and  exalted ;  and  in  which  they  shall  be 
brought  forth  to  inhabit  a  region,  where  all  that 
survives  of  human  nature  shall  exist  in  a  more  ex- 
alted mode,  shall  exhibit  a  state  of  consummate 
perfection,  "safe  from  disease  and  decline.'' 


SECTION  IV. 

Arguments  to  prove  that  the  Resurrection  of  the 
body  can  no  more  take  place  immediately^  than 
Seed-time  a?id  Harvest  can  be  blended  together. 

It  has  been  repeatedly  asserted,  in  the  course  of 
this  work,  that  death  is  a  natural  eflfect  of  moral 
evil ;  and  I  flatter  myself  that  these  assertions  have 
been  satisfactorily  proved,  in  several  of  the  preced- 
ing sections.  But,  while  the  arguments  which 
have  been  advanced  to  prove  that  moral  evil  must 
be  destroyed,  appear  highly  favourable  to  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body  ;  they  seem  to  open  the  door  to 
an  objection  which  may  be  stated  thus.  *'  If  death 
be  a  natural  eflfect  of  moral  evil,  if  no  natural  effect 
can  survive  its  cause,  and  moral  evil  be  totally  des- 
troyed, the  consequence  must  be  an  immediate 
resurrection  of  the  body  from  the  grave." 

Specious  as  this  objection  may  appear,  it  is  one 
which  I  flatter  myself  will  admit  of  a  solution  ;  it  is 
one,  indeed,  which  has  been  already  anticipated, 
and  in  part  already  answered.  For,  though  it  has 
been  asserted,  that  no  natural  eflfect  can  survive  its 
cause  ;-^that  moral  evil  is  the  cause  of  death  ;—• 


504      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION       [Chap.  V. 

and  that  moral  evil  must  be  done  away  ;  yet  there 
are  two  lights  in  which  the  destruction  of  moral  evil 
jnay  be  considered. 

In  the  first  place,  it  may  be  said  to  be  destroyed 
in  relation  to  individuals,  the  instant  that  di^ath 
takes  place  upon  them,  and  separates  their  souls 
from  their  bodies.  For,  as  probation  must  be 
confined  to  the  present  state,  and  as  those  laws  by 
which  we  -distinguish  good  from  evil,  must  be  con- 
fined to  that  modv.^  of  being  in  which  we  are  capable 
of  obedience  and  transgression;  a  removal  from 
this  state  of  existence  must  effectually  change  our 
condition,  and  resolve  all  into  retributive  certainty 
cither  of  punishment  or  reward.  Whenever,  there- 
fore, this  change  in  our  condition  shall  take  place, 
in  an  individual  sense ;  moral  evil  may  be  said  to 
be  destroyed. 

Nevertheless,  in  a  more  universal  sense,  moral 
evil  may  be  said  to  continue,  so  long  as  the  present 
state  of  things  shall  remain  unchanged.  And,  con- 
sequently, though  it  may  no  longer  operate  upon 
those  individuals,  whose  boaies  are  lodged  in  the 
arms  of  death  ;  yet  the  influence  of  moral  evil  must 
run  parallel  with  mortality,  and  occasion  that  death 
which  mankind  must  undergo.  In  this  view,  moral 
evil  cannot  be  universally  destroyed,  while  one 
mortal  remains  alive ;  and  therefore  the  resui  rec- 
tion  of  the  body  cannot  immediately  take  place. 

But,  even  admitting  the  destruction  of  moral  evil 
to  take  place,  as  in  the  first  case  supposed  ;  it  will 
not  from  thence  follow  that  the  resurrection  must  be 
an  immediate  cv<;at.     St.  Paul  has  told  us,  in  rcla- 


Sdct.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  "BODY.  205 

tion  to  the  process  of  vegetation,  that  the  body 
which  is  sozvn,  is  not  quickened  (into  future  life)  ex- 
cept it  die  ;  time  therefore  must  evidently  be  neces- 
sary to  the  developement  of  the  future  plant,  the 
future  ear,  and  the  future  grain,  which  come  forth 
in  perfection  when  the  future  harvest  shall  com- 
mence. Since,  therefore,  progression  becomes  ne- 
cessary to  future  completion,  seed-time  must  neces- 
sarily precede  those  stages  which  are  conducive  to 
approaching  perfection ;  and  to  suppose  that  har- 
vest could  blend  with  that  condition  which  must 
necessarily  be  previous  to  it,  is  to  make  a  supposi- 
tion which  is  not  only  cpntradicted  by  fact,  but 
which  also  involves  a  contradiction. 

Neither  will  the  case  appear  le>s  improbable,  or 
less  absurd,  if  we  make  an  application  of  these  re- 
marks to  the  resurrection  of  the  bodies  of  the  dead. 
Those  portions  of  permanent  matter  in  which  I  have 
presumed  the  identity  of  the  bod;^  to  consist,  I  have 
supposed  also  to  be  the  germ  of  future  life,  which 
must  necessarily,  like  the  seed  of  some  future  grain, 
be  in  an  embryo  state,  and  consequently  unprepared 
for  its  future  habitation.  Under  these  circumstan- 
ces, the  progress  of  time  becomes  necessary  to  call 
forth  those  latent  powers  which  shall  unfold  them- 
selves in  our  future  bodies,  so  that  they  may  be 
adapted  to  that  condition  of  being  which  they  must 
sustain  for  ever. 

From  the  principles  upon  which  T  have  proceeded 
it  must  be  admitted,  that  this  embryo  state  of  our 
future  bodies,  may  be  in  different  stages  of  pro- 
gression when  deposited  in  the  earth ;  and  the  spe- 


JOS        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  V. 

cific  quantity  of  time  necessary  to  ripen  those  bod- 
ies which  shall  be,  for  that  state  of  perfection  to 
which  they  tend,  must  be  determined  by  those  pre- 
vious periods,  in  which  their  constituent  parts  were 
ledged  in  a  seminal  slate.  And  how  various  or 
multiform  soever  these  stages  might  have  been, 
they  are  evidenily  such  as  will  suit  the  whole  suc- 
cession of  time,  and  place  the  bodies  of  all  the  hu» 
man  race  on  an  even  scale.  On  this  ground  we 
can  rationaiiy  conceive,  how  the  general  resurrec- 
tion may  take  place  m  one  and  the  same  instant ; 
though  the  bodies  which  shall  rise  had  been  depos^ 
ited  in  the  grave  through  all  the  preceding  ages  of 
the  world. 

The  introduction  of  moral  evil  into  the  world  I 
have  already  admitted  to  be  the  case  of  death,  and 
the  primary  cause  of  that  dissolution  which  im- 
mediately succeeds.  But  as,  when  death  takes 
place,  and  by  separating  soul  and  body,  destroys 
the  identity  of  man,  moral  evil  must  cease  to  act 
upon  that  individual ;  the  latent  powers  must  begin 
to  operate,  and  move  onward  towards  that  perfec- 
tion which  the  future  body  shall  possess  and  enjoy 
through  eternity. 

But,  as  those  parts  of  immoveable  matter  which 
constitute  the  identity  of  the  body  here,  and  shall 
be  the  germ  of  that  which  shall  exist  hereafter, 
must  have  been  deposited  in  the  grave  in  distant 
periods ;  so  they  must  have  been  deposited  in  dif- 
ferent stages  of  progression ;  and,  consequently, 
must  require  different  portions  of  duration  in  the 
grave,  to  ripen  for  the  grand  result  of  things.     And, 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY-  2or 

as  those  bodies  which  were  first  deposited  in  the 
grave  must  require  the  longest  time  because  they 
existed  the  shortest  in  a  seminal  state ;  so  tht^se 
which  have  been  interred  more  recently,  having  been 
lodged  a  much  longer  period  in  their  seminal  state^ 
will  require  a  comparatively  shorter  season  to  bring 
them  forth  into  a  slate  of  complete  perfection.  And, 
us  that  germ  which  shall  constitute  our  future  bod- 
ies must  be  in  a  state  of  immaturity,  whensoever 
deposited  in  the  grave ;  those  ages  become  requi* 
site  to  ripen  it,  which  shall  elapse  from  the  time  of 
its  interment,  until  the  s<jund  of  the  trumpet  shall 
awaken  the  dead.  And,  therefore,  though  moral 
€vil  be  the  cause  of  death,  and  though  it  cease 
when  soul  and  body  are  separated  from  each  other* 
it  will  be  impossible  that  the  body  should  immedi* 
ately  rise  from  the  grave. 

Nothing  that  is  in  embryo  can  be  in  a  state  of 
maturity.  Maturity,  therefore  must  be  the  work 
of  progression ;  and  progression  in  such  cases,  must 
be  incompatible  with  instantaneous  action.  The 
germ  in  embryo  cannot  be  matured,  while  it  is  ia 
embryo,  and  while  it  is  a  germ ;  if  it  were  so,  it 
would  no  longer  be  a  germ  in  embryo,  but  a  germ 
in  maturity,  which  in  this  view  is  a  contradict ioA 
Sn  terms.  An  embryo,  it  is  true,  may  be  perfect, 
as  an  embryo  ;  but  while  it  is  an  embryo,  it  must 
be  distinct  from  that  body  which  it  shall  hereafter 
constitute.  And  to  suppose  that  which  is  an  embryd 
of  a  future  body,  to  be  that  future  body  in  comple- 
tion, is  to  suppose  it  to  be  what  it  is  not,  and  what» 


20«.        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  V: 

under  existing  circumstances  it  cannot  be  :  in  short, 
it  is  to  suppose  it  to  be  an  embryo  and  not  an  em- 
bryo at  the  same  time.  It  must  therefore  follow, 
that  the  permanent  principles  of  our  bodies  cannot 
be  immediately  raised;  though  the  cause  of  their 
being  deposited  in  the  grave  be  totally  done  away. 

The  germinating  powers  of  its  radical  parts,  may 
begiji  immediately  to  operate,  because  delivered 
from  the  prjmary  cause  which  held  them  in  a  state 
of  torpor  and  inaction  ;  but  these  radical  parts  can- 
not ripen  into  full  perfection,  until  the  time  ap- 
pointed when  the  sea  and  the  grave  shall  give  up 
their  dead.  Those  portions  of  matter  which  con- 
stitute the  identity  of  our  bodies  in  the  present  life, 
and  which  will  become  the  foundation  of  those 
which  we  shall  possess  f -rever,  must,  when  depos- 
ited in  the  grave,  be  destitute  of  that  maturity 
which  can  alone  ensure  immortality.  And  this 
maturity  cannot  be  attained,  unless  those  bodies 
undergo  those  changes  in  the  grave,  through  which 
the  Judge  of  quick  and  dead  hath  appointed  them 
to  pass.  But  when  the  budies  of  the  whole  of 
Adam's  posterity  shall  have  moved  through  those 
evolutions  which  are  necessary  to  ensure  their  im- 
mortality ;  and  shall  have  undergone  those  varied 
modes  of  being,  which  form  so  many  links  in  the 
vast  chain  which  ends  in  perfect  existence  ;  then  all 
ripened  with  immortal  energy,  for  an  immortal 
$tate,  shall  come  forth  from  the  mansions  of  death, 
to  sleep  no  more.  And  in  this  state,  being  re- 
imited  to   their   immaterial   partners,   they  shall 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY,  a09 

enter  upon   those;  rewards  or  punishments  which 
flow  from  the  mercy  and  retributive  justice  of  God. 


SECTION  V. 

In  zvhich  it  is  proved^  That  St,  Paiilj  xvhen  illustrai^ 
ing  the  Doctrine  of  the  Resurrection^  by  the  Pror 
cess  of  Vegetation,  speaks  the  Language  oj  Phi- 
losophy and  Reason* 

To  illustrate  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection,  by 
the  analogy  which  subsists  between  it,  and  the  prOr 
cess  of  vegetation,  St.  Paul  (1  Cor.xv.  35.)  has 
stated  this  question — But  some  man  zoill  say,  Hozo 
are  the  dead  raised  up,  and  zvith  what  bodies  do 
they  come  ?  and  in  the  following  verses  he  has  giv- 
en this  answer — -Thou  fool,  that  which  thou  sowest 
is  not  quickened  except  it  die  i  and  that  ivhich  thou 
sowest,  thou  sowest  not  the  body  zvhich  shall  be,  but 
bare  grain  ;  it  may  chance  oJ  ivheat,  or  of  some 
other  grain. 

However  excellent  this  illustrative  argument  may 
appear,  in  the  eye  of  unprejudiced  reason,  it  is  one 
of  those  excellencies  which  has  met  the  common 
fate  of  almost  every  thing  which  is  truly  great ;  and 
has  been  exposed  to  censures  of  the  most  illiberal 
and  acrimonious  nature. 

Thomas  Payne,  in  his  *' Age  of  Reason,"  has 
taken  occasion  to  hold  it  up  to  ridicule  and  con- 
tempt, and  without  entering  into  the  nature  of  the 

E  e 


Hid  IDENTITY  AND  RESUURECTION     [Chal>.  V- 

comparison  which  .the  Apostle  has  made,  or  esti- 
iTiating  the  merit  or  demerit  of  tlie  argument,  which 
has  been  drawn  from  the  general  analogy  subsist- 
ing between  the  two  subjects,  he  has  not  hesitated 
to  denominate  St.  Paul  "  a/ooL''^  Perhaps,  when 
Thomas  Payne  dropped  this  expression  from  his 
pen,  it  was  with  him  an  age  of  dogmatismy  as  well 
as  an  age  of  reason  ;  so  that  in  this,  as  well  as  in 
a  variety  of  other  instances,  he  has  strangely  per- 
mitted his  prejudice  to  eclipse  the  intcHectual  ray. 

*'  Sometimes  (observes  Payne)  Paul  affects  to  be 
a  naturalist,  and  to  prove  his  system  of  resurrec- 
tion from  the  principles  of  vegetation.  Thou  fOol, 
says  he,  that  v(  hich  thou  sowest,  ia  not  quickened 
except  it  die.  To  which  one  might  reply  in  his 
own  language,  a-nd  say,  thou  fool  Paul,  that  vhich 
tlwu  sowest  is  not  quickened  except  it  die  7iot  j  for 
the  grain  that  dies  in  the  ground,  never  does  nor 
ca«  vegetate."*  On  this  point  St.  Paul  and  Tho- 
mas Payne  are  fairly  at  issue,  and  the  question  is 
w  hich  of  them  is  right. 

It  a])pears  evidently  from  the  face  of  the  above 
quotation,  that  the  Apostle's  meaning  has  been 
,»  either  grossly  mistaken,  or  wilfully  misrepresented  ; 
because  nothing  can  be  more  evident  than  this,  that 
his  language  has  been  perverted  to  serve  no  good 
purpose.  In  the  passage  which  has  been  quoted 
from  his  page,  the  Apostle  was  not  speaking  of  the 
annihilation   of  any  simple  substance,  but  of  the 

*  Age  of  Reasoiij  part  ihc  second,  p.  73, 


Sfct*  V.j  OF  THE  HUMAN"  BODY.  iV^ 

decomposition  of  compounded  bodies;  which  tuo 
subjects  have  little  or  no  connection  ivith  one  ano» 
ther.  The  former  must  be  for  ever  hindered  from 
taking  place  by  the  simple  preservation  of  being; 
but  the  latter  can  only  be  prevented  by  the  perma- 
nency of  the  union,  and  adhesion  of  all  the  parts, 
of  which  that  substance  was  composed.  That  the 
former  shall  take  place,  St.  Paul  never  asserts  ;  but 
that  the  latter  annually  occurs,  is  evident  to  every 
beholder ;  and  by  this  obvious  fact  St.  Paul  has 
chosen  to  illustrate  the  state  of  the  human  body, 
during  its  repose  in  the  grave,  and  its  consequent 
resurrection. 

The  question,  which  is  now  before  us,  involves 
two  distinct  points ',  one  of  which  relates  to  the 
identity  of  the  substance  itself,  and  the  other  to  the 
identity  of  that  modification,  which  the  given  sub- 
stance might  have  assumed.  The  identity  of  the 
former  never  can  be  lost;  because,  though  it  may 
be  perpetually  divided,  no  one  of  its  essential  pro- 
perties can  possibly  be  either  destroyed  or  changed. 
All  that  divisibility  can  possibly  eifect  must  relate 
to  the  arrangement  of  its  parts  ;  but  no  change  in 
modification  can  ever  effect  identity.  On  the  con- 
trary, in  all  compounded  bodies,  every  change  which 
they  undergo  must  afiect  their  modification;  and 
by  a  derangement  of  the  composition,  must  eventu- 
ally annihilate  that  identity,  which  consisted  in  the 
permanent  union  of  all  the  parts. 

In  the  subject,  which  is  rtow  before  us,  the  above 
two  identities  are  to  be  fouhd ;  and  to  the  distinction 
which  exists  between  them,  if  we  wish  to  comprfe- 


21S  IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  V. 

hend  the  Apostle's  meaning,  it  is  necessary  that 
we  attend.  It  is  this  distinction  which  Thomas 
Payne  seems  entirely  to  have  forgotten  ;  and  by 
this  means  he  has  so  blended  these  two  identities 
together,  as  to  have  justly  brought  upon  himself 
the  charge  of  that  folly  which  he,  with  equal  injus- 
tice and  indecency,  has  attributed  to  St.  Paul. 

When  we  take  before  us  a  grain,  on  which  the 
Apostle  has  made  his  observation,  we  are  instantly 
struck  with  the  distinction  I  have  made.  We  behold 
in  almost  one  view^j'  the  identity  of  the  substance 
itself,  and  the  identity  of  that  particular  modifica- 
tion of  it,  from  whence  we  obtain  the  idea  of  grain. 
The  former  of  these  must  always  be  inseparable 
from  matter,  in  what  light  soever  we  may  view  it ; 
while  the  latter  as  it  applies  not  so  much  to  exist- 
ence itself,  as  to  the  particular  manner  of  existence, 
may  be  totally  destroyed,  though  the  former  remains 
unchanged  and  entire.  Thus  the  identity  of  the  grain 
is  one  thing,  but  the  identity  of  the  matter  of  which 
it  is  composed  is  quite  another ;  and  of  these  two 
identities  it  is  necessary  that  we  should  have  distinct 
ideas,  in  order  that  we  inform  ourselves  of  which 
of  these  St.  Paul  speaks,  before  we  can  decide  on 
the  accuracy  or  inaccuracy  of  his  expression. 

That  the  Apostle  speaks  of  the  identity  of  the 
modification,  and  not  of  that  of  the  matter  itself,  is 
evident  from  the  manner  in  which  he  introduces  the 
subject.  *'  That  (says  he)  ivhich  thou  sozvestis  not 
quickened  except  it  die.'''* 

What  (we  would  ask)  is  it  that  is  sown?  The 
answer  is   obvious,   "  a  grain.''''     What,   (we  ask 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUiMAN  BODY.  213 

again)  is  not  quickened?  The  answer  is  equally- 
plain,  "  Vegetation  which  arises  from  that  germ 
which  is  included  in  the  composition  sown,  is  not 
quickened  into  future  life,  except  that  body  in 
which  it  is  included,  die  :  which  body,  in  order  that 
the  germ  may  evolve  itself,  must  be  decomposed, 
and  through  this  decomposition,  its  identity,  which 
consisted  in  the  stability  of  its  modification,  must 
be  inevitably  destroyed.'* 

That  St.  Paul  spoke  of  the  grain  which  was  sown, 
and  not  of  the  particles  of  which  it  was  composed, 
is  plain  language  which  will  admit  of  no  controversy. 
If  we  deny  this,  it  will  be  impossible  to  render  his 
expressions  any  way  intelligible  ;  we  must  there- 
fore assume  it  as  an  admitted  point.  It  must,  there- 
fore, be  to  the  modification,  and  not  the  constituent 
parts  of  grain,  that  we  n?ust  look  for  that  di/i?igy  of 
which  the  Apostle  speaks. 

A  grain  of  corn  is  that  certain  combination  of 
primitive  particles,  so  peculiarly  modified  as  to  give 
us  that  complex  idea  which  we  have  of  it ;  which 
complex  idea  is  derived  from  that  peculiar  union 
which  exists  in  the  body  modified.  And  no  longer 
than  that  union  continues  can  we  annex  to  it  an 
idea  which  is  dependent  upon  it ;  and  which  must 
cease  to  exist  upon  the  disunion  of  those  parts 
which  were  previously  combined. 

Having  thus  before  us  this  complex  idea  of  a 
grain,  arising  from  the  mere  combination  of  its 
parts,  it  is  certain  that  this  idea  can  continue  no 
longer,  than   while  those  parts    continue  in  union 


214        IDENTITY  ANP  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  V. 

with  one  another  ;  because  upon  this  union  the  idea 
is  entirely  dependent  for  its  own  existence.  While 
therefore,  the  parts  thus  combined,  continue  in 
union  with  one  another  ;  our  idea  of  grain  remains 
iindtstroyed ;  while  a  change  in  its  modification  and 
sensible  qualities  must  annihilate  the  identity  of 
which  wc  speak,  and  our  complex,  idea  together. 

Such  then  is  the  nature  of  the  grain,  to  which 
St.  Paul  applies,  for  an  illustration,  which  he  has 
so  happily  employed  in  proving  the  resurrection 
of  the  dead. 

Let  us  now  suppose  this  grain  to  be  deposited  in 
the  earth,  and,  through  the  grand  process  of  nature, 
its  parts  dissolving  into  their  elementary  state.  In 
this  case,  though  the  parts  themselves  lose  not  their 
own  peculiar  identities  ;  yet  they  so  far  lose  their 
orit^-inal  state  of  combination,  that  the  grain  is  now 
no  longer  in  existence.  And,  as  our  idea  of  the 
identity  of  this  grain  depended  upon  that  combina- 
tion of  the  parts  which  is  now  destroyed,  so  when 
this  combination  vanished,  from  that  very  instant 
our  idea  of  it  ceased  to  exist. 

That  the  grain  itself  must  be  dissolved,  Avill  ad- 
mit of  no  dispute  ;  and  no  man  perhaps  will  assert 
that  its  identity  can  continue,  when  the  only  combi- 
nation of  particles  upon  which  it  depended  is  des- 
troyed. For  certain  it  is,  that  when  that  cause 
which  gave  being  to  our  idea  of  identity  is  removed, 
that  idea  must  vanish  with  it ;  because  beijig  was 
necessary  to  its  preservation.  If  then  the  identity 
of  a  grain   be   actua'ly   destroyed,   must   not  that 


Sect.  V.3        .^    OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  3.13 

identical  grain  be  inevitably  dead  ?  And  is  not  this 
very  grain,  that  of  which  St.  Paul  speaks,  in  the 
very  passage  which  has  been  ridiculed  by  Thomas 
Payne  ?  And  if  so,  the  sentiment  of  the  Apostle 
Is  at  once  philosophical  and  just ;  and  the  contempt 
of  Thomas  Payne  has  been  most  egregiously  mis- 
applied. 

St.  Paul,  in  the  place  under  consideration,  con- 
fines his  observations  exclusively  to  the  grain,  with- 
out  once  adverting  to  the  matter  of  which  it  is 
composed ;  and  he  considers  the  dissolution  of  its 
component  parts,  as  particularly  necessary  to  that 
vegetation  v.hich  shiiU  spring  forth  from  the  germ 
included  in  it.  In  this  view,  he  justly  concludes 
from  the  change  of  its  modification,  the  destruction 
of  its  identity  ;  and  from  hence  expresses  himself 
with  an  evidence  not  to  be  controverted  with  suc- 
cess, that  every  compounded  body  must  be  dead, 
when  its  identity  is  no  more.  And  consequently, 
that  the  self-same  act,  by  which  its  parts  are  sepa- 
rated from  one  another, is  the  identical  act  through 
which  its  modification,  which  constituted  its  iden- 
tity, is  destroyed,  and  through  which  the  grain  that 
was  sown  completely  dies. 

How  far  the  destruction  of  the  constituent  parts 
of  a  grain  may  be  necessary  to  call  forth  the  active 
energy  of  those  vegetative  powers,  that  are  lodged 
in  the  germ  of  future  life,  which  the  parent  body 
encloses,  is  remote  from  the  present  question.  It  is 
sufficient  to  my  present  purpose,  to  have  vindicated 
St.  Paul  from  the  charge  of  ab:surdity,»  and  the  ap- 


21G         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      C^hap.  V. 

pellatlon  of  *•' fool  j"  and  to  have  shewn  the  philo. 
sophical  propriety  of  an  expression,  wliich  Thomas 
Payne,  instead  of  confronting^  with  argument,  has 
attempted  to  ridicule,  and  affected  to  despise.* 

*  It  ought  not  to  be  adnutted,  that  the  subject  of  vegetat'-on 
which  St.  Paul  has  so  happily  applied  to  the  resurrection  of  the 
body,  was  first  hinted  by  our  Lord  on  a  similar  occasion. 
Hence  he  tells  us,  John  xii.  24,  Verihj^-verihj^  I  say  unto  you^ 
Exce^it  a  corn  of  luhcat  fall  into  the  ground  and  die.,  it  abideth 
alojie  ;  but  if  it  die,,  it  bringeeh  frth  much  fruit.  Thus  wc  find, 
in  corroboration  of  the  same  sentiment,  that  even  a  greater  thati 
St.  Paul  is  here.f 

t  After  perusing  this  section,  my  friend,  Dr.  A.  Clarke,  sent 
me  the  following  illustration  of  John  xii.  24,  which  applies  so 
forcibly  to  the  subject  of  tliis  inquiry  that  I  make  no  apology 
for  inserting  it,  as  I  am  sure  it  will  recommend  itself  to  the 
good  sense  and  piety  of  every  reader. 

"  It  appears  quite  evident  to  me  that  St.  Paul  borrowed  his 
simile  and  illustration  of  the  resurrection  of  the  human  body 
fr«m  the  words  of  our  Lord,  John  xii.  24.  This  simile  pro- 
perly understood,  is  in  both  cases  so  physically  and  philosophi- 
cally correct  as  lo  carry  conviction  to  the  most  insensible  mind. 
I  shall  give  you  a  paraphrase  which  I  extract  from  my  MS. 
notes  on  the  above  passage. 

Unless  the  grain  of  ivhcat  which  falleth  into  the  ground  die, 
it  remaincth  alone,  verse  2  4. 

"  Our  Lord  compares  himself  to  a  grain  of  wheat,  his  death  to 
Z(  grain  sown  and  decomposed  in  the  ground  ;  his  resurrection 
to  the  blade  which  springs  from  the  dead  grain,  and  which 
brings  forth  an  abundance  of  fruit.  As  if  he  had  said,  I  must  die 
to  be  glorifcd,  a?:d  unless  I  am  glorifed  I  cannot  establish  a  glorious 
church  of  Jews  and  Gentiles  ufion  earth.  In  comparing  him- 
self thus  to  a  grain  rftvheat,  our  Lord  shews  us,  1.  The  caxise 
of  his  death  :  the  order  of  God,  who  had  rated  tlie  redemption 
of  the  world  at  this  price  :  as  in  nature  he  had  attached  the 
TOukiplication  of  the  corn  to  the  death  of  the  grain.     3.  The  end 


^rct  v.]  OF  tliE  HUMAN  BODY.  Sit 

of  his  death ;  the  redemption  of  a  lost  world  ;  the  justification, 
sanctification,  and  glorification  of  men  ;  as  the  multiplication 
of  the  corn  is  the  end  for  which  the  grain  dies.  3,  '1  he  mys' 
tery  of  his  death,  which  we'must  credit  without  being  able  fully 
to  comprehend  ;  as  we  believe  the  dead  grain  multiplies  itself, 
and  we  are  nourished  by  that  multiphcation,  without  being  able 
to  comprehend  how  it  is  done.  The  greatest  philosopher  that 
ever  existed  could  not  tell  how  one  grain  became  30,  60,  100, 
or  a  thousand,  how  ii-vei^etatedin  the  earth  ;  how  "earth,  air  and 
Water,  its  component  parts,  could  assume  such  a  fortu  and  con- 
sistence, emit  such  odours,  or  produce  such  tasteS.  Nor  cai> 
the  wisest  man  on  earth  tell  how  the  bodies  of  animals  are 
nourished  hy  i\\i^  produce  of  the  ground;  how  wheat  for  in- 
stance, is  assimilated  to  the  very  nature  of  the  bodies  that  re- 
ceive it ;  and  how  it  becomes  flesh  and  blood,  nerves,  sinews, 
bones,  8cc.  All  wc  can  say  is,  the  thing  is  so  ;  and  it  has 
pleased  God  that  it  should  bs  so,  and  not  otherivise.  So  there 
are  many  things  in  the  person,  death,  and  sacrifice  of  Christ, 
which  we  can  neither  explain  nor  comprehend  ;  all  we  should 
say  here  is,  it  is  by  this  means  that  the  world  was  redeemed, 
through  this  sacrifice  tnen  are  saved  ;  it  has  pleased  God  that 
it  should  be  so,  and  not  otherwise.  Some  say,  our  Lord  spoke 
this  according  to  the  philosophy  of  those  days,  which  was  by  no 
means  correct.  But  I  would  ask,  has  ever  a  more  correct  phi- 
losophy on  this  point  appeared  f  Is  it  not  a  physical  truth,  that 
the  whole  body  of  the  grain  dies,  is  converted  into  fine  mould, 
which  constitutes  the  first  nourishment  of  the  embryo  plant,  and 
prepares  it  to  receive  a  grosser  support  from  the  surroundinj^ 
soil ;  and  that  nothing  lives  but  the  germ  which  was  included  in 
this  body,  and  which  must  die  also,  if  it  do  not  receive  from  the 
death  or  putrefaction  of  the  body  of  the  grain,  nourishment,  so 
as  to  enable  it  to  unfold  itself?  Though  the  body  of  our  Lord 
died,  there  was  still  the  germ,  the  quickening  power  of  tha 
divinity,  which  reanimated  that  body,  and  stamped  the  atone- 
ment with  infinite  merit.  Thus  the  merit  was  multiplied,  and 
through  the  death  of  that  one  person,  the  man  Christ  Jesus, 
united  to  the  Eternal  Word,  salvation  was  procured  for  the 
whole  world.  Never  was  a  simile  more  appropriate  ;  nor  an 
illustration  more  happy  or  successful.*' 
■  Ff 


218        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 


CHAP.  VI. 

ARGUMENTS  TENDING  TO  TROVE  THAT  THE 
IDENTITY  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY  MUST  CON- 
SIST IN  SOME  GERM,  OR  STAJVIEN,  WHICH  RE- 
MAINS IMMOVEABLE. 

SECTION  I. 

In  which  it  is  argued y  That  the  Identity  of  our  fu-. 
lure  Bodies  does  fiot  consist  in  all  the  numerical 
P articles y  nor  i?t  the  Majority  oj  them^  lohich 
have  occasionally  adhered  to  the  Vital  Mass^  in 
any  given  Portion  of  the  present  Life, 

On  a  subject  so  abstruse  as  that  of  the  identity  of 
the  human  body,  it  is  natural  to  conceive  that  diffi- 
culties will  arise  from  various  quarters,  and  press 
upon  us  in  a  variety  of  forms.  The  subject  itself  is 
involved  in  much  obscurity ;  it  eludes  in  many 
cases,  our  most  acute  researches  ;  and  requires  fa- 
culties more  penetrating  and  vigorous,  than  any 
which  we  now  possess.  The  rays  of  light  that  are 
d'fFused  through  the  gloom,  with  which  we  are  en- 
circled, are  however  sufficient  to  convince  us  of  its 
certainty  ;  the  difficulties,  therefore,  which  perplex 
us,  arise  from  subordinate  causes,  but  the  fact  itself 
remains  unimpeached. 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  219 

Nor  will  these  difficulties  admit  of  satisfactory 
solutions  in  all  their  parts,  though  we  vary  the 
modes  of  our  inquiry,  and  suppose  the  identity  of 
the  body  to  be  lodged  in  either  of  those  combina- 
tions of  matter,  in  which  alone  it  can  possibly  be 
placed.  For,  whether  we  suppose  the  identity  of 
the  body  to  consist  in  all  the  numerical  particles 
xohicli  have  been  occasionally  united  to  the  vital 
system,  or  in  some  stamen  which  is  lodged  xvithin 
its  recesses  s  or  in  the  majority  of  those  particles 
zvhidi  for?ned  the  body  when  it  sunk  into  the. 
grave;  still  many  difficulties  will  remain,  which  we 
cannot  fully  comprehend.  We  shall  meet  in  each 
case  with  obscurities  which  we  cannot  pierce,  with 
obstacles  which  we  cannot  properly  surmount,  and 
in  some  cases  with  arguments  which  will  forbid  our 
further  progress,  because  they  will  involve  us  in 
contradictions. 

But  these  difficulties  can  lay  no  embargo  on  the 
exertions  of  an  inquiring  mind.  For,  though  they 
are  attended  with  embarrassments  which  are  hostile 
in  their  appearances,  and  contradictory  in  their  is- 
sues ;  they  will  discover  the  avenues  of  error,  and 
direct  us  from  what  is  wrong  to  what  is  right. 

The  works  of  man  we  may  understand  ;  but  those 
actions  which  no  pow^r  less  than  infinite^  can  ac- 
complish, it  is  but  reasonable  to  believe,  that  no 
wisdom  less  than  infinite  can  fully  comprehend. 
We  discover  the  most  obvious  demonstrations  of 
these  truths  in  all  the  varied  works  of  nature;  the 
periodical  vicissitude  of  day  and  night,  and  the  re- 


no      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap  VI. 

volutions  of  tjie   season?,  oblige  us  to  admit  those 
truths,  vvhich  e.xcite  our  astonishment,  but  leave  us 
in,  the  shade.     For,  in  the  vast  empire  of  nauirc,  all 
our  boasted  researches,  into  her   secret   movements, 
oiir  (Jtjycjlopcrpent  of  her  recesses,  and  our  investir 
gajtipo  of;  causes  and.  efFects,  are  not  only  defective 
in  their  nature,  but  chiefly  applied  to  the  mere  su- 
perfices  of  things.     The   primary  causes  of  all   lie. 
concealed  from,  mortals  ;  and  the  utmost  stretch  of 
our   most  penetrating  faculties  can   ris^  but  little 
higher  than  probability  ;  and  must  finally  re^t  in  the 
acknowledgement  of  a  self-existent  cause,  whose  na- 
ture and  manner  of  existence  are  very  little  known. 
Our  inquiries,  therefore,  in  all  these  cases  must   be, 
how  far  should  probability  be  permitted  to  operate  ; 
to  produce  conviction  and  to  obtain  belief  ?     With- 
out doubt,  it  is  our  indispensable  duty,  ami:lst  a  va-* 
riety  of  possible  casns,  which  are  involved  in    diffi- 
culty, to  select  that  which  appears  farthest  removed 
from  absurdity  and  ir.or.     It    is  this  alone  which 
can  give  it  the  features  of  truth,  arrest  the  mind  in 
its  progressive  movements,  and  present  a   rational 
claim  to  our  belief. 

If  the  huma»  body  rise  from  the  grave,  its  original 
sameness,  in  whatsoever  it  consisted,  must  be  pre- 
served ;  because,  without  this  it  is  not  the  former 
b;)dy  but  totally  another.  And  it  is  equally  certain 
that  in  whatsoever  this  sameness  consists,  the  cases 
which  are  possible,  cannot  be  infinite  ;  on  the  con- 
trary, they  must  be  confined  within  a  narrow  com- 
pass and  reduced  to  a   diminutive  number ;   and 


Sect.  1.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  221 

this  number  which  is  but  small,  has  been  already 
hinted,  in  the  second  paragraph  of  this  section. 

If  we  admit,   as    we  supposed   in  the  first  case, 
that  all  the  particles  which  were  once  united  to  the 
corporeal  mass,  must  be  again  united  to  it,  to  form 
the    constituent  parts  of  the  body  in  the  resurrec- 
tion ;  we   shall  be  obliged  to  admit,  in  many  cases;"" 
bodies   so^vast,  that  the  idea  itself  is  an  outrage  on 
probability.     The  size  must  increase  vviJh  the  pro- 
gress of  years,  and  age  must  be  the  criterion   from 
whence  magnitude  must  be  denominated.     In  addi- 
tion to  this,  if  all  those  particles  which  have  occa- 
sionally  adhered  to  our   bodies,  must  be  again  re- 
united to  their  respective  systems  ;  our  notions  will 
immediately  become  inconsistent  with  those  ideas 
Vv'hich  we  have  of  the   transmigration   of  particles 
from  one   body  to  another ;  because  it  will  be   im- 
possible for  the  same  particles  to   incorporate  with 
t'.vo  or  more  bodies  at  the  same  time.     For,  if  any 
given  particle  incorporate  with  two  or  more  bodies, 
•  a,nd   every   particle  be  necessary  to  constitute  the 
sameness  of  each  body,  the  presence  of  every  such 
particle  must  be  equally  necessary  in  both  cases,  to 
constitute  the   identity  of  those  bodies  to   which  it 
had  occasionally   adhered.       But,   since  the    cases' 
which  are  thus  absolutely  necessary,  must  be  abso- 
lutely impossible  ;  it  will  follow  that  the  identity  of 
our  future  bodies,  cannot  consist  in  the  re- union  of 
all  those  particles,  which  were  once  vitally  united  to 
the  corporeal  mass. 

We  may  easily  conceive,  while   the  particles  in- 


322        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Cliap.  VI. 

corporate  with  no  other  body,  that  no  difficulty  will 
occur,  however  they  may  be  disposed  of,  or  in 
what  forms  soever  they  may  be  combined.  We 
may  suppose  them  to  wander  through  different  re- 
gions ; — they  may  *'  flo?t  in  the  breeze,  or  shiver  in 
the  grass  ;"  they  may  still  retain  their  relative  situa- 
Itions,  without  militating  against  that  theory  which 
I  oppose,  or  for  which  I  contend.  They  may  in 
either  case,  at  the  voice  of  the  archangel,  and  the 
trump  of  God,  repair  to  their  respective  systems, 
incorporate  and  adhere  for  ever. 

But  there  are  cases,  in  which  these  theories  will 
wear  different  aspects. 

That  cannibals,  who  feed  on  human  flesh,  may 
live  by  that  nutrition,  I  flatter  myself  will  be  denied 
by  none  ;  and,  if  they  live  by  nutrition  derived 
from  human  flesh,  some  particles  of  the  devoured 
body  must  incorporate  with  the  body  of  tlie  canni- 
bal ;  for,  how  any  nutrition  can  be  otherwise  de- 
rived, it  will  perhaps,  be  impossiI)le  to  say.  The 
continuance  of  life  must  depend  upon  nutrition;  and 
the  human  system  must  be  supported  by  particles, 
which  are  derived  from  that  source.  But,  if  th'-sc 
particles  which  are  thus  introduced  into  the  system 
of  a  cannibal,  were  once  some  of  those  particles 
which  constituted  in  part  that  body  which  had  been 
devoured  ;  it  is  certain  that  these  particles  must 
have  formed,  in  part,  the  identity  cf  that  first  body, 
and  must  finally  resort  thither  to  form  anew  its  iden- 
tity in  the  day  of  the  resurrection.  And,  if  each 
and  every  particle  must  be  again  united  to  the  body 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  233 

which  it  once  inhabited,  in  order  to  constitute  its 
general  identity  ;  these  particles  must  be  recalled 
from  the  body  of  the  cannibal,  to  rejoin  their  prim- 
itive system. 

But  were  we  to  admit  this  to  be  the  case,  new 
difficulties  will  arise  on  the  formation  of  the  body 
of  the  cannibal,  from  which  they  must  be  taken. 
For,  if  the  identity  of  the  body,  eaten^  depends 
upon  the  collection  of  every  particle  which  had 
been  vitally  united  to  it ;  so,  in  like  manner,  the 
body  of  the  caniiibal  must  also  require  each  and 
every  particle,  which  had  at  any  period  been  vitally- 
united  to  it,  in  order  to  constitute  and  form  its  fu- 
ture identity.  The  reasons  are  equally  good,  in 
both  cases  ;  and  the  claims  and  necessities  wear  on 
both  grounds  the  same  aspect ;  but  of  this  we  are 
well  assured,  that  the  claims  of  one  body  must  be 
disappointed,  because  a  compliance  with  both  is  ab- 
solutely impossible.  We  have  now  before  us  two 
bodies,  namely,  that  of  a  cannibal,  and  that  of  a  per- 
son devoured  by  him,  laying  equal  claims  to  the 
same  particles ;  acting  alike  under  equal  necessities, 
and  founding  their  respective  claims  on  eqtial  rea- 
sons. But,  of  tJiis  truth  we  are  well  assured,  that 
the  same  particle  cannot  enter  into  tbe  composition 
of  both  bodies.  And,  let  it  adhere  to  which  body- 
soever  it  may  ;  the  deserted  body,  having  lost  those 
particles  which  were  once  vitally  united  to  it,  and 
which  on  that  account  are  necessary  to  form  its  fu- 
ture identity,  must  remain  in  an  unformed  and 
imperfect  state.  And  being  thus  deprived  of  its 
identity,  it  can  have  no  share  in  a  future  resurrec- 


a«i        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  VT. 

tion  from  the  dead  ;  and,  consequently,  all  the  other 
constituent  parts  of  thib  body  nmst  be  s-  ept  away 
with  the  common  mass  of  matter  never  dignified 
with  life  And,  as  these  consequences  cannot  be 
avoided,  while  we  admit  that  all  the  particles  which 
were  at  any  time  united  to  the  body,  are  necessary 
to  form  its  future  identity  ;  and,  as  these  conse- 
quenres  will  involve  us  in  the  contradictions  above 
staled,  I  think  this  final  conclusion  is  inevitable — 
tliHt  ail  those  particles  which  were  once  united  to- 
gether, cannot  be  necessary  to  constitute  either  the 
identity  of  the  present  body,  or  the  identity  of  that 
body  which  shall  be  hereafter. 

To  avoid  the  absurdities  which  are  inseparablfc 
from  the  above  theory,  it  has  been  said,  "  i  hat  all 
the  particles  wliich  were  once  united,  are  not  neces- 
sary to  constitute  the  future  identity  of  our  bodies  ; 
but  Oiily  those  which  were  united  to  the  body  at  ti^e 
time  of  its  being  deposited  in  the  grave."  But  this 
supposition  has  its  difficulties;  difficulties  which  will 
appear  as  great,  and  perliaps  as  contradictory  as  the 
former ;  and  therefore,  equally  insurmountable.  Let 
us  suppose  that  the  identity  of  the  body  of  a  canni- 
bal, consists  partially  in  those  particles  which  arc 
united  to  it  in  that  moment  when  life  ends  :  and  that 
this  cannibal  had  drawn  his  nutrition  from  humau 
ficsh.  In  the  case  before  us,  we  are  drawn,  in  part, 
to  the  same  conclusions  which  we  have  seen  above. 

We  have  now  before  us  a  certain  number  of  par- 
ticles, in  the  body  of  the  cannibal  at  the  time  of  his 
death,  which  were  taken  from  the  bodies  of  those 
who  had  been  eaten  bv  him  ;  and  which  were  taken 


Sect.  1.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  225 

from  them  at  the  time  of  their  death,  of  which  this 
Was  the  occasion.  In  this  case,  the  body  eaten  will 
have  a  right  to  those  particles,  to  form  its  future 
identity,  upon  the  supposition  above  given.  And, 
as  these  particles  were  lodged  in  the  body  of  the 
cannibal,  at  the  moment  of  his  death ;  an  equal  claim 
will  arise  from  that  quarter  also.  In  these  cases, 
the  two  bodies,  namely,  that  of  the  cannibal,  and 
that  of  the  body  eaten,  will  both  have  the  same 
identical  particles,  even  at  the  moment  of  their 
deaths.  And,  if  the  identity  of  the  body  consists 
in  the  sameness  of  these  particles  which  were  unit- 
ed to  the  system  at  the  moment  of  its  death  ;  the 
identity  of  one  of  these  bodies  must  be  inevitably 
lost,  since  it  is  impossible  that  the  same  particles 
should  constitute  the  identities  of  both  bodies  at  the 
same  time.  And,  therefore,  the  difficulty  will  not 
be  rendered  less,  by  our  supposing  that  those  par- 
ticles only,  which  were  united  to  the  body  at  the 
moment  of  its  death,  shall  constitute  the  identity  of 
that  body  which  shall  bloom  beyond  the  grave. 

To  counteract  the  force  of  these  reasonings, 
ehould  it  be  asserted,  "That  not  the  whole,  but  only 
a  part  of  these  particles,  indiscriminately  taken, 
were  lodged  in  the  cold  repository  of  death,  will  be 
sufficient  to  constitute  the  identity  of  the  future 
body ;  though  myriads  of  particles  should  be  lost, 
and  though  myriads  more  which  are  perfectly  new 
should  incorporate  with  the  future  system  ;"  should 
these  things  be  asserted,  the  absurdities  to  which 
thev  lead  are  not  remote.     Nor  will  it  be  difficult 


$26         JDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

to  infer,  that  there  may  be  as  many  distinct  identi- 
ties, as  there  are  parts  which  are  capable  of  constitut- 
ing them.  For,  if  out  of  that  almost  infinite  number 
of  particles,  which  are  at  all  times  necessary  to  con- 
stitute the  body  of  man,  any  indiscriminate  rwimbtr 
may  be  taken ;  and  if,  notwithstanding  the  adhesion 
of  particles,  which  were  never  before  in  the  system, 
this  indiscriminate  number  will  be  sufficient  to  con- 
stitute the  identity  of  our  future   bodies ;  another 
given  number,  indiscriminately  taken  from  the  same 
system,  partaking  of  the  same  nature,  and  inhering 
in  the  body  also  when  it  dropped  into  the  grave,  will 
have  the  same  right.     This   second  number  may 
also  constitute  an  .ther  identity  of  the  same  body, 
and  we  shall  then  have  two  identities  of  the  same 
body,  which  is  an  absurdity  that  surpasses,  if  possi- 
ble, a  palpable  contradiction.     I  therefore  think  the 
conclusion  from  hence  evident  also,  that  particles 
indiscriminately  taken  from  the  mass  of  which  our 
bodies  were  composed,  either  at  death,   or  through 
any  previous  portion  of  their  progress  in  life,  must 
be  insufficient  to  constitute  the  identity  of  those  bo- 
dies, which  we  hope  to  possess  beyond  the  grave, 
For,  as  these  particles  are  supposed  to  be  indiscrim- 
inately taken,   an  equal  number  of  equal   particles 
must  be  equal ;  and  the  same  conclusions  w^hich  will 
result  in  one  cuiie,  must,  under  like  circumstances 
result  in  another,  and  result  in  all.     And  certain  it 
is,  that  t))at  theory  which  will  lead  to  a  conclusion 
too  gross  to  be  admitted,  and  too  contemptible  to  be 
pursued,  must  in  itself  be  inevitably  wrong. 


Beet.  1.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  227 

It  may  perhaps  be  said  "  that  it  is  not  any 
given  number  of  particles,  indiscriminately  taken, 
that  is  here  meant ;  but  the  majority  of  thooC  par- 
ticles which  were  united  to  the  body  at  its  death, 
which  shall  constitute  its  identity  in  a  future  world." 

That  this  is  a  removal  of  the  last  difficulty,  which 
we  have  considered,  I  am  ready  to  admit  ;  but  it  is 
only  a  removal  of  it  to  another  stage.  In  another 
stage  it  will  appear  again  to  meet  us,  and  meet  us  in  a 
shape  equally  formidable  to  that  in  which  \v€ 
have  already  seen  it ;  and  appear  in  every  mode 
equally  irreconcileable  with  those  truths  which  can 
never  oppose  one  another. 

If,  out  of  the  whole  mass  of  matter  which  forms 
our  mature  bodies  in  the  present  life,  a  certain  num- 
ber of  particles  shall  be  either  selected  or  indiscri- 
minately taken,  which  amounting  to  a  majority  of 
the  whole  in  point  of  number,  shall  constitute  the 
identity  of  our  future  bodies  ;  it  must  then  be  ad- 
mitted that  all  besides  are  uselessin  point  of  identity, 
and  therefore  can  have  no  necessary  connection  with 
it.  And,  as  the  identity  of  the  body  is  now  presumed 
to  consist  in  a  majority  of  particles;  it  must  on  the 
other  side  of  this  question  be  admitted  also,  that  all 
those  particles  which  are  not  included  in  the  majo- 
rity which  forms  the  identity  of  the  body,  must  be 
insufficient  to  produce  or  constitute  another  identity 
of  that  body  ;  because  it  is  absolutely  impossible 
that  two  majorities  of  particles  can  exist  at  one  and 
the  same  time.  And,  as  it  is  impossible  that  two 
majorities  can  arise  from  the  constituent  parts  of  the 


228         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION   [Chap.  VS. 

same  body,  or  exist  at  the  same  time ;  it  plainly  fol- 
lous,  that  the  difficulty  we  have  lately  considered 
must  be  removed  by  the  present  supposition.  But 
other  difficulties  still  remain. 

Let  us  nrw  suppose  those  particles  which  were 
not  included  in  the  majority,  to  be  either  totally  an- 
n"hilatrd,  or  entirely  removed  ;  which  must  be  ad- 
mitted In  the  resurrection,  if  the  majority  of  particles 
constitute  the  identity  of  that  body  which  shall  rise 
from  the  grave.  Under  these  circumstances,  and 
in  this  case,  I  would  ask — In  what  does  the  iden- 
tity of  the  future  body  consist  ?  It  cannot  be  the 
majority  of  particles  ;  because  to  constitute  our  idea 
of  majority^  the  whole  mass  is  necessary,  out  of 
which  the  majority  is  taken.  And,  as  the  minor 
number  is  now  annihilated,  or  perfectly  removed, 
the  removal  or  annihilation  of  this  minor  number 
tnust  be  that  very  act,  by  which  our  idea  of  majority 
will  be  totally  destroyed.  And  therefore,  if  our  idea, 
of  majoriti/  be  totally  destroyed,  by  the  removal  of 
the  minor  number,  it  plainly  follows  that  the  iden- 
tity of  our  future  bodies  cannot  be  denominated  from 
that  which  has  now  no  longer  any  existence.  All 
therefore  that  can  be  included  in  the  supposition, 
under  tlie  present  consideration,  is, — "  That  the 
identity  of  our  future  bodies  must  hereafter  consist 
in  the  union  of  cach  and  every  particle  which  shall 
rise  from  the  grave  ;  and  which,  taken  in  connection 
with  the  constituent  parts  of  the  former  body,  con. 
ytituted  in  that  general  union,  the  majority  of  the 
whole  ;   but  which,  now   the  minor  number  is  rc^ 


Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  229 

moved,  must  in  itself  be  changed  from  a  majority 
to  a  whole." 

But  even  admitting  this  to  be  the  case,  can  the 
identity  of  this  future  body  be  the  identity  of  the 
past  ?  Can  that  body,  the  identity  of  which  consist- 
ed in  a  majority  of  particles,  be  the  same  with  this, 
the  identity  of  which  consists  in  the  whole  ?  Is  a 
whole,  and  part  of  that  whole,  the  same  ?  Or,  can 
the  identity  of  the  same  body  consist  in  two  distinct 
things  in  the  different  stages  of  its  being  :  Can  it 
consist  in  things  so  distant  as  a  part  is  from  a  wholcy 
out  of  which  that  part  is  taken  ?  If  it  be  the  same 
body,  with  its  identity  consisting  in  two  distinct 
things,  so  distinct  as  a  ivhole  is  from  a  part^  we 
must  suppose  the  actual  transfer  of  identity.  In 
this  case,  the  same  body  in  distinct  modes  of  its 
being  must  have  two  identities  ;  it  must  be  the  same 
with  two  samenesses,  i.  e.  it  must  be  the  same  and 
not  the  same  at  the  same  time. 

Either  these  absurdities  must  be  admitted,  or  they 
must  not.  If  admitted,  we  must  bid  farewell  to 
argument  and  reason  :  if  not  admitted,  it  will  plainly 
follow,  that  the  identity  of  the  body  cannot  consist 
in  the  majority  of  the  particles  of  that  body  which 
was  sown  in  weakness,  but  which  shall  be  raised  in 
power  ;  because  it  involves  inexplicable  difficulties, 
and  finally  terminates  in  absurdities  and  contradic- 
tions. 

If  a  majority  of  those  particles,  which  constituted 
the  body  in  its  former  Or  present  state,  be  that  which 
constitutes  the  future  identity  of  the  same  body  when 
it  rises  from  the  grave,  identity  must  be  capable  of 


230       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  VI. 

being  transferred  from  one  system  of  atoms  to  ano- 
ther. But  how  identity  can  be  capable  of  any  kind 
of  transfer  is  to  me  a  difficulty  which  1  cannot  solve. 
That  identity,  in  this  case,  must  be  capable  of 
being  transferred,  may  be  demonstratively  inferred 
from  the  comparative  estimate  which  may  be  made 
between  infancy  and  maturity  ;  and  those  interme- 
diate stages  which  mark  the  progressive  life  of  man. 
It  will  scarcely  be  asserted,  I  presume,  by  any  per- 
son, that  a  full  grown  man.  has  no  more  particles  in 
his  body  than  he  had  when  an  infant  at  the  breast  ; 
neither,  I  conceive,  vi^ill  it  be  imagined  that  a  ma- 
jority of  those  particles  which  this  man  in  maturity 
possesses,  were  brought  with  him  from  an  embryo 
state,  or  from  the  first  dawn  of  infancy.  To  suppose 
this,  is  to  violate  the  evidence  of  all  our  senses,  and 
to  place  a  visionary  theory  in  direct  opposition  to 
fact. 

That  an  infant  brings  with  it  into  this  world  an 
identity  of  body,  which  it  never  loses  ;  will,  I  con- 
ceive, be  denied  by  none.  If  we  deny  this,  it  will 
be  incumbent  on  us  to  perform  a  still  more  difficult 
task,  and  to  point  out  the  particular  time  when  this 
identity  of  body  is  first  acquired  ;  for,  that  an  iden- 
tity of  body  does  exist,  we  cannot  doubt.  As  there- 
fore this  identity  of  body  does  exist,  it  must  either 
be  coeval  with  our  being,  or  be  acquired  at  some 
subsequent  period.  If  the  identity  of  our  bodies  be 
acquired  in  some  subsequent  period  of  their  exist- 
ence, it  follows,  that  the  body  must  have  had  an 
existence  previously  to  its  own  identity  ;  and  to  sup- 
pose that   any   thing  can   exist   previously  to  that 


Sect.  I.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  231 

which  constitutes  its  being,  is  a  palpable  contradic- 
tion. Therefore,  in  whatsoever  the  identity  of  the 
body  consists,  it  must  necessarily  be  in  something 
which  is  coeval  with  the  body  ;  it  is  the  same  which 
the  body  possesses  through  all  the  changes  of  life  ; 
it  must  remain  incorruptible  in  the  grave,  and  con- 
tinue through  all  eternity. 

Should  we  deny  these  positions,  we  must  suppose 
that  identity  itself  can  be  lost  in  diversity  ;  and  if  so 
that  which  we  call  the  same  person  must  be  acknow- 
ledged to  be  another  ;  and  if  another,  it  is  not  the 
subject  of  our  present  inquiry.  But  were  the  per- 
son or  body  is  the  same,  there  identity  must  be  pre- 
served ;  since  it  is  from  thence  alone  that  sameness 
both  of  body  and  person  is  denominated  and  known. 

If  the  particles  which  constituted  the  human  body, 
when  first  it  received  its  identity,  were  more  in 
number  than  those  which  it  possessed  when  it  re  ir- 
ed  from  life,  we  might,  without  much  difficulty 
behold  the  majority  of  these  particles,  and  the  iden- 
tity of  the  body,  moving  onward  in  progression  to- 
gether, without  either  transfer  or  change.  The 
extraneous  particles,  in  this  case,  might  either  be 
incorporated  with  the  body,  or  thrown  off  to  mix 
with  their  different  elements  ;  while  new  particles 
might  succeed,  and  neither  the  identity  of  the  body, 
nor  those  particles  which  gave  it  stability,  would 
undergo  either  change  or  decay.  But  instead  of 
this  the  reverse  is  the  case. 

The  particles  which  belong  to  the  embryo  in  the 
womb,  or  which  form  the  body  in  the  first  stages  of 
human  infancy,  are,  comparatively  speaking,  but  few 


332      Ii)ENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Qiap.  VI. 

in  number ;  and  the  greater  part  of  these  few  are 
undergoing  perpetual  changes.  New  particles  are 
contniualiy  adhering  to  the  original  S3Stem  ;  so  that 
in  a  state  of  manhood,  few,  very  few  are  to  be  found 
which  composed  the  human  body,  when  in  an  infant 
state,  or  when  an  embryo  in  the  womb.  Yet,  in  the 
midst  of  tlicse  changes,  which  are  daily  demonstra- 
ted before  our  eyes,  we  are  well  assured  that  the 
identity  of  our  bodies  must  certainly  be  preserved  ; 
because  nothing  but  this  can  preserve  the  same 
pcson  ;  the  two  ideas  must  stand  or  fall  together. 

These  principles  and  positions  being  admitted 
(and  I  know  not  how  they  can  be  denied)  let  us 
consider  what  will  result  from  the  supposition,  that 
the  identity  of  the  body  consists  in  the  majority  of 
these  particles,  which  were  sown  in  the  grave. 

If  the  identity  of  the  body  consists  in  a  majority 
of  diose  particles,  which  were  sown  in  the  grave,  it 
must  follow,  that  in  a  state  of  infancy  the  identity 
of  the  body  must  have  consisted  in  some  other  thing; 
because  in  a  state  of  infancy,  the  majority  of  those 
particles  which  are  ^wn  in  the  grave,  did  not  exist 
in  the  body.  And,  as  it  must  likewise  follow,  that 
identity  must  be  coeval  with  the  body,  and  be  inse- 
parable from  it  in  all  its  stages ;  it  will  appear  that 
the  identity  of  the  body  has  been  transferred  from, 
that  other  thing  in  which  it  consisted  in  a  state  of 
infancy,  to  this  majority  of  panicles  in  which  it  is 
now  presumed  to  consist.  It  is  foreign  to  our  pre- 
sent question,  to  decide  in  what  this  identity  consist- 
ed, in  an  infant  state ;  it  is  sufficient  to  know  that  it 
could  not  have  consisted  in  tliat  majority  of  parti. 


'Sect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  '  233 

cles,  in  which  it  is  now  presumed  to  be  found  :  a 
majority  which  did  not  then  belong  to  the  body,  in 
which  this  identity  was  invariably  lodged,  and  Ironri 
which,  on  that  account,  the  identity  of  the  infant 
body  must  be  necessarily  excluded.  The  particles, 
which  now  constitute  identity,  must  have  been  ac- 
quired since ;  and,  in  some  period  subsequent  to  an 
infant  state,  these  particles  must  have  incorporated 
with  the  body,  and  on  that  account,  have  acquired 
that  identity,  which  in  reality  existed  in  the  body 
previously  to  that  incorporation.  Therefore,  iden- 
tity must  have  been  transferred  from  something  in 
which  it  was  originally  placed,  to  this  majority  of 
particles  in  which  it  is  now  presumed  to  consist.  It 
must  have  been  transferred  from  that  in  which  it 
consisted  in  an  infant,  when  this  majority  of  parti- 
cles was  not ;  to  this  majority  of  particles  which  has 
since  been  acquired,  and  since  incorporated  with 
the  primary  system. 

It  may  perhaps,  be  said,  *'  That  the  identity  of 
the  body  originally  consisted  in  the  niajority  of  par- 
ticles, and  it  consists  in  the  majority  of  particles  still ; 
and  so  far  as  identity  is  presumed  to  consist  in  a 
majority  of  particles,  identity  is  still  the  same."  Ad- 
mitting all  that  is  here  contended  for,  it  will  not 
affect  the  subject  under  consideration ;  it  will  not 
prove  that  identity  consists  in  a  majority  of  those 
same  particles,  of  which  the  body  either  is  or  was 
composed.  It  v/ill  prove  the  identity  of  the  modi- 
Jlcatlon  of  identity,  rather  than  identity  itself.  It 
^ill  point  out  that  the  way  and  manner  of  our  iden. 

tity  are  still  the  same ;  but  it  will   not  prove  that 

H  h 


334        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI.*- 

identity  consists  now  in  the  same  individual  parti- 
cles  that  it  did  then.  Nay,  it  will  rather  prove  the 
reverse  of  what  it  was  designed  to  prove.  The 
identity  of  the  body  cannot  depend  upon  the  same 
arrangtment  of  materials,  indiscriminately  chosen, 
but  must  depend  upon  the  sameness  of  the  materi- 
als themselves.  To  make  therefore  the  identity  of 
the  body  to  consist  in  the  peculiarity  of  modifica- 
tion, is  to  leave,  the  thing  modified  quite  out  of  the 

"question ;  and  it  is  to  make  die  identity  of  the  body 
consist  in  that,  to  which  both  its  name  and  nature 
must  be  alike  unknown.  As,  therefore,  the  iden- 
tity of  the  body  must  consist  in  the  sameness  of 
materials,  and  not  in  the  sameness^f  the  modifica- 
tion  of  materials,  without  considering  whether  same- 
ness will  apply  to  the  materials  or  not ;  and,  as  the 
sameness  of  materials,  cannot  at  those  two  distinct 
periods  become  the  constituent  parts  of  the  same 
body,  in  both  of  which  periods  identity  does  exist ; 
it  will  follow,  either  that  identity  istransferrable;  or, 
that  identity  cannot  be  constituted  by  any  indiscrim- 
inate majority  of  particles,  cohering  at  any  given 
period  in  the  general  mass. 

That  identity  cannot  be  transferred  from  one 
system  of  atoms  to  another,  is  a  proposition  which, 
if  not  self-evident,  approaches  it  so  nearly,  that  it 
will  be  difficult  to  find  any  proof  more  forcible  than 
the  fact  itself.  An  identity,  which  can  be  transfer- 
red seems  to  involve  a  contradiction.  Every  identity 
must  be  the  identity  of  something  ;  and,  under  the 

'  present  consideration,  it  must  be  either  the  identity 
of  the  former  body,  or  of  the  latter ;  of  that  body 


Sect.  LJ  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  23i 

which  existed  in  a  state  of  infancy,  or  of  that  which 
was  interred  in  the  grave.  It  cannot  be  of  the  for- 
mer ;  because  the  majority  of  the  particles  of  that 
body  has  now  given  place  to  that  of  the  present. 
And  if  it  were,  the  circumstance  of  its  consisting  in 
the  majority  of  the  particles  of  an  infant  body,  will 
eiFectuallv  prevent  it  from  consisting  in  the  majority 
of  the  particles  of  that  body  which  is  interred  in  the 
grave  ;  because  the  majority  of  the  particles  "of  a 
mature  body,  must  be  much  more,  both  in  quantity 
and  in- number,  than  the  whole  of  the  body  of  an 
infant.  And,  though  we  suppose  that  identity  may 
consist  in  the  majority  of  the  particles  of  the  body 
which  is  mature  ;  it  will  want  the  great  part  and 
principal  characteristic  of  proving  sameness  in  this 
which  is,  and  that  which  ivas.  The  infant  body 
existed  before  the  majority  of  the  present  particles 
had  any  inherence  in  the  general  mass  ;.and  conse- 
quently, that  body  must  then  have  had  an  identity 
distinct  from  the  present.  For  if  the  identity  of  the 
body  consist  in  the  majority  of  particles,  the  infant 
body  must  have  had  an  identity  which  must  have 
stood  or  fallen  with  the  permanency  of  the  particles 
which  then  were.  If  the  majority  of  particles  be 
•now  the  same,  the  former  identity  must  still  remain ; 
but,  if  that  majority  is  changed,  the  former  identity 
which  depended  upon,  and  consisted  in  them,  must 
be  totally  done  away.  And,  in  either  case,  a  trans- 
fer of  identity  must  involve  a  contradiction,  and 
therefore  must  be  impossible.  If  the  identity  of  the 
body  be  transferred,  it  must  be  an  identity  without 


"236        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION   [Chap.  VI. 

sameness  ;.and  if  it  be  not  transferred,  the  identity 
of  an  infant's  body  cannot  be  constituted  by  the 
majority  of  those  particles,  which,  in  a  more  ad- 
vanced state,  fall  into  the  grave. 

The  final  conclusion  from  these  premises,  there- 
fore, must  be,  that  the  identity  of  the  body  cannot 
consist  either  in  the  zvliole  of  the  corporeal  mas9, 
or,  in  any  given  number  of  particles  indiscrimU 
jiateiy  taken  from  that  mass  ;  or  in  the  majority  of 
those  particles  which  fell  into  the  grave  when  the 
body  died.  It  cannot  consist  in  the  first  ;  fur  this 
supposition  would  make  the  body  of  an  enormous 
size,  and  would  be  contradicted  also  by  fact,  as  in 
the  case  of  cannibals.  Nor  can  it  consist  in  the 
second  case,  which  we  have  supposed  ;  for  this 
would  leave  room  for  many  identities  of  the  same 
body,  which  would  be  absurd.  Neither  can  it  be 
in  the  last  case,  which  we  have  supposed  ;  because 
this  will  lead  us  to  suppose  an  identity  without 
sameness,  or  a  transfer  of  sameness  from  one  sys- 
tem of  atoms  to  another.  And,  as  each  of  these 
conclusions  is  in  itself  absurd  in  the  highest  degree, 
and  carries  with  it  its  own  refutation,  we  are  finally 
led  to  this  point,  that  the  identity  of  our  future  bo- 
dies cannot  consist  in  either  of  the  cases,  which  has 
hitherto  been  considered,  or  which  we  have  thus 
far  been  able  to  explore. 

But,  whatever  difficulties  may  attend  this  subject 
of  our  inquiry,  of  this  we  are  certain,  that  the  iden- 
tity of  the  body  does  exist  ;  and  it  seems  equally 
certain,  that  it  must  consist  in  something,    which 


Sect.  IL]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  sSr 

retains  its  sameness  under  all  the  changes  of  life, 
llie  shocks  of  death,  and  must  continue  the  same 
to  eternity. 

SECTION  II. 

Arguments  tending  to  prove.  That  the  sameness 
of  our  future  bodies  must  be  constituted  by 
some  Oerm,  or  Stamen  ;  and  that  toe  now  possess 
all  the  Kvidence  oj  a  Besurrection,  tohich  ive  can 
xationally  expect  in  the  present  State. 

We  have  seen  in  the  preceding  section,  those  insu- 
perable difficulties  which  are  connected  with  the 
various  modes,  in  which  we  have  hitherto  considered 
the  identity  of  the  human  body,  both  in  time  and  in 
eternity.  It  now  remains  to  be  considered,  whether 
those  objections,  which  are  brought  against  the  sup- 
position, that  identity  consists  in  some  germ  or  sta- 
?;ic?z,  have  in  them  sufficient  validity  to  counteract 
the  probable  evidence,  which  can  be  advanced  in 
favour  of  its  reality.  And  also,  whether  we  have 
or  have  not  all  the  evidence  in  favour  of  a  resurrec- 
tion, which  we  might  rationally  expect  in  the  pre- 
sent state. 

ifritis  not  improbable,  that  our  notions  of  some 
germ  being  lodged  within  the  compages  of  our  bo^ 
<lies,  were  first  taken  from  the  lips  of  inspiration,  in 
that  grand  description  which  St.  Paul  has  given  us 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  dead.  It  is  upon  this,  as 
one  leading  idea,  that  he  builds  the  system  which  he 
has  there  laid  down.     And  notwithstanding  the  in- 


9S8'       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  VI. 

comprehensibleness  of  its  nature,  the  perfect  ana- 
logy which  subsists  between  the  powers  of  vegeta- 
tion and  the  final  restitution  of  the  body  from  the 
grave,  presents  to  us  an  evidence,  which  taken  in 
all  its  parts,  will  render  the  subject  before  us  pro- 
bable in  the  hightst  degree. 

I  have  already  observed,  that  were  the  analogy 
to  be  minutely  examined,  the  probability  appears 
much  more  in  favour  of  the  resurrection,  than  in 
favour  of  vegetation  ;  when  considered  in  all  its 
parts,  and  in  connection  with  all  its  circumstances. 
What  once  had  life,  we  well  know  must  have  been 
capable  of  it ;  but  what  was  never  endued  with  life, 
has  not  so  much  as  this  distant  possibility  to  recom- 
mend it.  We  well  know  that  what  once  had  life 
must  be  capable  of  life  in  future  ;  but,  what  never 
was  endued  with  Kfe,  may  for  aught  we  know,  be 
so  constituted  as  to  be  incapable  of  possessing  it. 

That  the  body  is  now  endued  with  life,  we  have 
the  most  unquestionable  evidence  ;  and  therefore 
may  thence  presume  that  it  may  be  again  restored, 
because  we  are  thus  assured  that  the  materials  of 
which  our  bodies  are  composed,  are  capable  of.  re- 
ceiving it.  But,  the  vegetative  power  of  grain 
could  not  originally  have  had  this  evidence  to  re- 
commend it.  Yet,  in  that  subject  which  sejdms 
most  improbable,  we  behold  the  fact  actually  ac- 
compli.shed  in  each  succeeding  harvest ;  and  even 
this  circumstance  gives  us  every  reason  to  believe 
that  when  the  allotted  period  shall  arrive,  our  bo- 
dies shall  be  reanimated  also,  though  the  ways  and 
modes  by  which  each  of  th.se  is  accomplished  are 


Sfect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  239 

in  both  cases  alike  unknown  to  us,  and  may  remain 
so  through  eternity.  ■■ 

By  the  term  germ  or  stamen^  I  understand  a  cer- 
tain principle  of  future  being,  which  was  lodged  in 
the  human  body  at  its  primary  formation  ;  which 
has  "  grown  with  its  growth"  through  all  the  inter- 
mediate stages  of  life ;  which  constitutes  perpetual 
sameness;  and  which  shall  form  the  rudiments  of 
our  future  bodies.  That  it  shall  remain  forever  as 
a  radical  and  immoveable  principle ;  atid  shall  ei- 
ther collect  matter  around  it,  which  collected  matter 
shall  adhere  forever,  or  contain  within  it  all  those 
particles  which  are  necessary  to  constitute  those 
bodies  which  we  shall  perpetually  possess. 

On  its  magnitude  and  dimensions  I  will  not  pre- 
sume even  to  riska  thought ;  and  the  recess  of  its  re- 
sidence, while  included  in  the  present  vehicle,  is  per- 
haps of  such  a  nature  as  will  not  admit  of  investiga- 
tion. It  may  be  diffused  throughout  the  present 
body,  by  an  innate  expansive  power  which  it  pos- 
sesses, and  by  the  shock  of  death  it  may  be  capable 
of  such  contraction,  as  to  render  it  impervious  to 
attack,  and  invulnerable  by  all  assaults.  During 
jts  repose  in  the  grave,  it  will,  no  doubt,  be  pre- 
served from  incorporating  with  the  identity  of  Other 
bodies,  and  from  putting  forth  any  operations  ex- 
cept such  as  are  peculiar  to  its  state. 

We  see  this  principle  of  sameness  perfectly  pre- 
served in  every  species  of  grain,  which  is  around 
us  ;  and  we  can  have  no  kind  of  conception  that  a 
germ  of  future  wheat  can,  by  any  possible  process, 
become  a  constituent  part  of  a  grain  of  rye,   or  of 


240       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  Vi: 

barley.  This  strange  commixture  would  break 
down  the  order  which  God  has  established  in  the 
empire  of  nature  ;  and  finally  tend  to  banish  same- 
ness from  the  world.  The  identity  of  grain,  mustT 
therefore  be  preserved  ;  and  if  the  identity  of  grain 
must  be  preserved,  why  should  we  suppose  that  the 
germ  of  future  life  (in  which  consiists  the  identity  of 
the  body)  and  which  is  now  lodged  within  its  con- 
fines) should  be  swallowed  jjp  in  diversity,  sooner 
than  that  of  a  simple  grain,  with  which  St.  Paul  has 
compared  it?  The  same  power,  which  has  preserved, 
and  which  does  preserve  the  one,  can  without  doubt 
preserve  the  other  also.  The  order  and  harjiiony 
of  all  nature  require  it.  In  the  case  of  grain,  events 
hav^  fully  demonstrated  it ;  and  the  veracity  of  God 
is  engaged  to  ensure  to  us  the  certainty  of  its  pre- 
servation in  man.  And  the  evidence  is  of  equAl 
validity  in  both  cases,  so  far  as  the  progress  of  time 
will  identify  the  correspondent  analogy. 

There  was  a  period  in  the  origin  of  things,  which 
elapsed  between  the  creation  of  grain  and  the  first 
harvest ;  when  the  evidences  of  that  fact,  and  of  the 
resurrection  of  the  human  body  were  pjeciscly 
the  same.  And,  if  God  were  now  to  create  any 
given  form  of  matter,  endued  with  a  vegetative 
principle,  as  remote  from  all  resemblance  to  grain, 
as  it  should  be  from  the  human  body,  the  cases 
would  be  precisely  similar,  and  the  evidences  on 
both  sides  would  be  nearh'  equal.  But,  when  the 
eftcct  of  vegetation  should  come  forth  to  substan- 
tiate, by  ocular   demonstration,   the  certainty  of  its 


Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY,  54i 

germinating  powers  ;  every  doubt  would  then  be 
removed  from  our  mind.  And,  in  process  of  time, 
we  should  view  the  successive  changes  without  any 
wonder  ;  as  much  so,  as  we  now  view  the  continual 
changes  of  seed  time  and  harvest,  and  the  alternate 
vicissitudes  of  corruption  and  germination. 

This  case  is  precisely  our  own  ;  it  is  true,  we  dif" 
fer  from  grain,  in  that  we  move  by  a  much  slower 
process.  But,  the  germ  of  future  life  is  already 
lodged  within  our  bodies  ;  it  will  soon  be  sown  in 
the  earth,  and  in  the  day  of  eternity,  it  shall  be 
awakened  into  immortal  life.  The  grain,  which  is, 
fleeting  and  transitory,  moves  with  speedy  transition 
through  all  its  evolutions  ;  we  therefore  behold  all  its 
parts  in  one  collected  view.  But  the  human  body, 
being  destined  for  perpetual  duration,  and  having  an 
eternity  before  it,  moves  by  slow  but  no  less  certain 
steps  through  those  necessary  changes,  which,  when 
once  passed,  can  never  more  return. 

Under  these  views,  how  can  the  whole  scene  be 
less  than  wonderful,  when  we  survey  it  in  all  its 
parts  ?  In  our  present  state,  we  see  but  in  part,— 
the  sequel  is  reserved  for  another  state  of  existence. 
And,  in  our  present  condition,  while  we  see  nothing 
more  than  the  body  sown,  and  while  we  are  fully 
assured  that  the  whole  face  of  nature  must  be  chang- 
ed, before  it  can  rise  from  the  grave ;  why  do  we 
look  for  greater  evidence  than  even  our  own  reason 
has  taught  us  to  expect  ?  Or,  why  do  we  look 
for  greater  evidence  than  the  nature  of  the  sub- 
ject can  possibly  afford  ?  The  vast  changes,  which 
all  nature  must  undergo  before  this  event  can  be 

accomplished,  have  not  yet  taken  place  ;  and  until 

I  i 


242         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION   [Chap.  V^.' 

those  changes  shall  be  accomplished,  we  can  no 
more  expect  the  resurrection  of  the  body,  than  we 
can  suppose  that  an  effect  can  precede  its  cause. 

In  the  order  of  nature,  the  seed  time  must  first 
exist.  And,  after  the  grain  is  sown,  it  must  vege- 
tate and  produce  its  fruits,  before  we  can  see  the 
ITna!  result  of  all.  Now  if  we  stop  at  any  stage  in 
this  progress,  and  in  that  stage  attempt  to  decide 
upon  the  certainty  or  uncertainty  of  the  future 
event,  without  \vaiting  the  arrival  of  that  period  in 
which  alone  the  final  result  can  be  expected  to  ap- 
pear ;  we  have  in  such  cases  nothing  more  to  ex- 
pect, than  disappointment  and  error,  as  the  just  re- 
ward of  our  indescretion  and  presumption. 

Just  such  is  the  case  before  us.  The  seed  is 
already  in  existence  ;  in  many  cases  we  have  seen 
it  sown.  But  the  final  harvest,  nothing  but  the 
season  of  harvest  can  produce.  And,  as  this  sea- 
son of  harvest  is  lodged  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
our  present  state,  we  can  expect  no  more  evidence 
on  this  side  of  the  grave  ;  and  what  further  evi- 
dence the  subject  may  be  capable  of  affording,  we 
must  assuredly  die  to  know. 

As  to  the  certainty  of  the  result,  we  have  for  our 
ground-work  the  whole  analogy  of  nature,  and  the 
infallible  declaration  of  God  ;  and  they  who  doubt, 
under  these  circumstances,  will  not  be  satisfied  with 
any  thing  short  of  ocular  demonstration.  But,  I  ap- 
peal to  any  man, — can  ocular  demonstration  possi- 
bly take  place  in  the  present  state  ?  Can  you  prove 
to  any  man  or  men,  by  ocular  demonstration,  the  re- 
surrection of  the  humanbody,  without  calling  eter- 


Sect.  II.}  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  243 

nity  to  your  aid?  The  face  of  the  question  in- 
volves eternity ;  it  necessarily  refers  to  another 
world ;  and  to  have  ocular  demonstration  of  an 
event,  which  necessarily  refers  to  eternity,  without 
eternity,  includes  a  contradiction.  And,  if  ocular 
demonstraticiu  cannot  be  obtained,  we  must  be  con- 
tent with  such  evidence  as  God  has  placed  within 
our  reach.  We  have  all  the  proof  that  the  pr«- 
gressive  state  of  the  subject  can  afford ;  and  to  ex- 
pect more  is  unreasonable  and  unjust. 

But,  when  the  times  of  restitution  shall  arrive  ; 
and  the  great  period  which  is  appointed  by  the 
allotment  of  heaven,  for  the  renovation  of  human 
nature,  shall  be  accomplished  ;  we  shall  then,  with- 
out doubt,  have  all  that  reason  to  expect  the  event 
to  correspond  with  the  elapsing  period,  which  we 
have  now  to  remain  without  it ;  and  to  be  satisfied 
with  such  evidence  as  we  have.  But,  until  that 
period  arrives,  we  have  no  more  reason  to  charge 
the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  with  an  insufficiency 
of  evidence,  than  we  have  to  attribute  to  a  grain  of 
wheat  a  want  of  fruitfulness,  before  the  great  pro- 
cess of  nature  has  passed  upon  it. 

Objections  may  here  be  urged  against  the  anal- 
ogy between  vegetation  and  the  resurrection,  from 
the  disproportion  of  time  in  which  the  bodies  of 
men  repose  in  the  grave.  For  answers  to  these 
objections,  I  refer  the  reader  to  chapter  five,  and 
section  three  of  this  work. 

Admitting  this  germ,  or  principle  of  identity,  for 
which  I  contend,  to  have  existed  in  a  seminal  state 
from  the  first  to  the  last  of  the  human  race  ;  then 


344      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  VI. 

every  movement  of  time,  which  has  elapsed  from 
Adam  down  to  the  present  hour,  must  have  had  its 
influence  in  an  equal  manner,  upon  all  the  mdivid- 
uals  of  the  human  race,  who  have  ever  lived,  or  shall 
live  to  the  latest  periods  of  time.  All,  therefore, 
in  the  natural  process  will  be  alike  prepared ;  and 
will  be  equally  ready  when  the  trumpet  shall  sound, 
to  start  forth  at  once  into  life  and  immortality. 

The  short  interval  of  life,  I  consider  of  no  mo- 
ment, when  compared  to  that  stupendous  range  of 
time  which  reaches  from  creation,  down  to  the  day 
of  judgment.  It  can  be  no  more  than  a  single  point, 
which  loses  itself  in  the  vast  abyss  with  which  it  is 
connected.  The  importance  of  time  can  only  be 
estimated  from  its  connection  with  moral  action. 
As  it  sUtnds  in  relation  to  the  grand  process  of  that 
germinating  principle,  which  shall  be  the  stamen  of 
our  future  bodies  in  eternity ;  it  can  be  but  as  the 
minutest  drop  to  the  unbounded  ocean,  or  as  an 
insensible  atom  on  the  shore.  It  may,  neverthe- 
less, be  a  necessary  and  a  constituent  part  of  the 
great  process  itself,  through  which  we  must  pass ; 
and  even  the  inequalities  of  the  duration  of  human 
life,  may  be  as  necessary  as  life  itself,  to  form  and 
complete  tlie  minute  parts  of  the  amazing  whole. 


S«ct.  in.J  or  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  S4« 


SECTION  In. 

The  Objections  against  the  Idea  of  a  Germ^  as  con- 
stituting the  Identity  of  the  Body  hereafter,  no 
Argument  against  its  Certainty.  Several  Objec- 
tions considered.  Several  Changes  of  our  Bod' 
ies  highly  probable. 

We  have  already  seen  in  some  of  the  preceding 
sections,  the  difficulties  which  obstruct  our  progress 
in  the  various  suppositions  which  we  have  formed. 
We  are  fully  satisfied  that  a  principle  of  identity 
must  exist ;  but  that  which  constitutes  it,  is  not  so 
easy  to  explore.  We  have  already  considered  those 
suppositions,  which  place  the  identity  of  the  body 
in  all  the  particles  which  were  deposited  in  the  grave ; 
and  we  have  been  led  to  obstacles  which  are  not 
only  insurmountable,  but  big  with  absurdities  of  the 
grossest  nature.  The  same  or  similar  obstructions 
have  presented  themselves  before  us  in  that  suppo- 
sition, which  places  the  identity  of  the  body  in  the 
greatest  number  of  particles  indiscriminately  taken, 
cither  at  the  moment  of  the  interment  of  the  body, 
or  at  any  previous  period  of  life.  The  certainty  of 
the  principle  obliges  us  to  explore  another  region  ; 
and  we  are  driven  to  some  immoveable  stamen  as 
our  last  resort. 

Whatever  it  may  be,  which  constitutes  the  inden- 
tity  of  the  body,  it  must  be  a  something  which  re- 
tains an  immoveable  permanency  i.n  the  midst  of 


246         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

fluctuation ;  and  continues  the  same  through  all 
those  changes  which  the  body  is  destined  to  under- 
go. Nothing,  therefore,  can  be  so  congenial  to  the 
case  before  us  as  the  supposition  which  we  now 
make ;  tkat  some  radical  partides  m^st  be  Jixtd 
tvithm  uSf  zvhic/i  constitute  our  sameness  Uirough 
alt  ili€  mutations  oj  life ;  and  winchy  remaining 
in  a  state  of  incorruptibility^  ^hallputjorth  a  ger- 
vunating  power  b  yond  the  grave,  and  be  the  germ 
of  our  future  bodies. 

Ot  the  ttrm  itself,  a  definition  has  been  already 
givei;  and  1  now  proceed  to  examine  the  prin- 
cipal objections  by  which  it  is  opposed.  It  has  been 
said,  that,  "  if  in  the  present  life,  we  suppose  the 
identity  of  the  body  to  be  lodged  in  any  given  num- 
ber of  ■immoveable  particles  ;  a  part  must  then  con- 
stitute the  whole,  which  is  an  evident  absurdity." 

That  a  theory  which  makes  a  part  to  constitute  a 
whole  must  necessarily  be  erroneous,  I  am  willing 
to  allow ;  because  the  suppo  ition  includes  a  con- 
tradiction. Buf,  that  such  absurdities  will  follow, 
from  the  supposition  and  premises  before  us  ;  is  to 
me  neither  clear  nor  satisfactor3\  On  the  contrary, 
the  objection  which  has  been  started  will  not  apply 
to  the  case  in  hand  ;  but  to  subjects  with  which  our 
inquiry  hts  little  or  no  connection. 

The  subject  before  us  is  not  an  inquiry  into  the 
constituent  parts  of  the  human  body  ;  but  into  its 
idenliti).  It  is  not  its  numerical  particles^  but  the 
sameness  of  personality.  These  are  distinct  ideas, 
and  can  only  have  in  this  v-ew,  a  distant  connec* 
tjon  with  one  another.     The  numerical  particles,  of 


S^ct.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY*  247 

which  our  bodies  are  composed,  are  in  a  state  of 
perpetual  flux  ;  but  since  sameness  of  person  re- 
mains under  every  change  which  these  ■nuiTH.-rical 
particles  undergo,  it  plainly  follows,  that  that  in 
which  sameness  consists,  must  remain  immoveable 
also  ;  and  hence  it  follows,  that  those  particles 
which  constitute  the  whole  body,  and  the  identity 
of  that  body,  must  necessarily  be  distinct  from  one 
another.  For  certain  it  is,  that  if  the  sameness  of 
the  body  consisted  in  all  the  numerical  particles  of 
which  that  body  was  composed,  sameness  mast  be 
capable  of  a  transfer ;  and,  consequently,  must  be 
destroyed  by  the  supposition  which  we  are  obliged 
thus  to  admit,  that  the  identity)  of  the  body  must 
not  only  be  compatible  with  those  changes  which 
the  body  perpetually  undergoes  ;  but  must  be 
lodged  in  some  secret  recess  which  these  changes 
cannot  reach. 

Having  thus  two  distinct  ideas,  one  of  the  iden- 
tity of  the  body,  and  the  other  of  the  component  or 
numerical  parts  of  which  the  body  is  formed,  we 
can  plainly  perceive  that  the  latter  may  change, 
while  the  former  remains  perfect  and  entire;  and 
the  reason  is,  because  the  former  is  not  dependent 
upon  the  latter  for  its  existence.  It  therefore  fol- 
lows, that  the  admission  of  an  inherent  principle, 
which  shall  become  a  germ  of  future  life,  having 
only  a  remote  connection  with  these  floating  parti- 
cles which  occasionally  form  the  body,  cannot  in- 
clude within  it  that  contradiction  which  the  objec- 
tion has  supposed.  For,  if  to  admit  a  germ  or 
principle  of  identity,  will  oblige  us  to  admit  that  a 


348       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  VIJ 

part  must  contain  or  comprehend  a  whole,  then  no 
such  distinct  ideas  can  possibly  be  formed  as  those 
which  have  been  pointed  out.  The  objection  itself  is 
founded  upon  a  supposition,  that  the  identity  of  the 
body  must  consist  in  the  numerical  particles,  of 
which  the  uhale  mass  is  evidently  composed.  One 
of  these  two  points  must  therefore,  be  given  up  ;— 
either  that  wiiich  makes  a  part  to  comprehend  a 
whole,  which  is  the  amount  of  the  objection,  or  that 
which  supposes  the  identity  of  the  body  to  remain, 
amidst  the  changes  which  its  numerical  parts  un- 
dergo, because  they  are  incompatible*  with  each 
other.  But,  as  the  latter  of  these  points  is  founded 
upon  fact,  and  the  former  which  is  included  in  the 
objection  upon  theory  ;•— as  the  latter  is  founded 
upon  ocular  demonstration,  and  the  former  is  only 
speculatively  probable  ; — as  the  latter  can  appeal  to 
visible  proof  in  the  growth  and  changes  which  are 
conspicuous  in  the  human  body,  and  the  former 
can  only  appeal  to  abstract  hypothesis  ;  it  is  certain, 
I  think,  beyond  all  reasonable  doubt,  that  the  nu- 

•  Their  nicompatability  arises  from  this  consideration  :  The 
contradiction,  which  the  objection  supposes,  can  only  be  admit- 
ted to  exist,  while  we  suppose  the  identity  of  the  body  to  be 
lodged  in  all  its  numerical  parts.  The  very  instant  that  we 
suppose  a  distinction  between  the  numerical  particles  at  large, 
and  that  principal,  or  germ,  in  which  identity  consists  ;  that  very 
instant  we  destroy  the  contradiction  which  has  been  supposed, 
and  reconcile  our  own  views  with  those  suppositions  which 
have  been  made.  And  therefore,  because  the  identity  of  the 
fcody  is  not  presumed  to  extend  to  the  whole  mass  ;  it  cannot  be 
charged  with  a  contradicfron,  which  on  account  of  distinction  i? 
rendetcd  inconsistent  with  its  nature. 


Stfct.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  249 

merical  parts  of  the  body  may  change,  while  its 
ideniily  remains  entire.  And,  as  this  fact  is  in- 
compatible with  the  supposition,  that  a  part  must 
Comprehend  a  whole,  but  is  perfectly  compatible 
with  the  idea  of  a  germ,  as  constituting  the  iden- 
tity of  the  body,  the  evidence  is  at  once  decisive 
and  unquestionable.  The  conclusion,  therefore,  is 
that  our  idea  of  a  germ  does  not  include  the  con- 
tradiction, which  the  objection  has  supposed — that 
a  *'  part  must  contain  or  comprehend  a  lohole  j"  and 
we  may  safely  admit,  that  the  identity  of  the  body 
may  consist  in  some  germ,  as  we  have  supposed, 
without  involving  ourselves  either  in  absurdities  or 
contradictions. 

Whatever  is  probable,  and  involves  neither  ab- 
surdity nor  contradiction,  may  be  with  safety  ad- 
mitted in  speculative  reasonings  ;  but  the  idea  of  a 
germ  is  probable,  and  includes  neither  absurdity 
nor  contradiction ;  and  therefore  the  idea  of  a  germ 
may  with  safety  be  admitted,  as  that  in  which  the 
identity  of  the  body  does  consist. 

It  has  frequently  been  said,  that  "  all  germs  must 
contain  within  themselves  the  individual  parts  of 
that  future  production  which  shall  be  hereafter ;" 
and  even  this  has  been  advanced  as  an  argument 
against  the  admission  of  that  germ,  for  which  I  am 
contending.  But,  this  objection,  together  with  the 
arguments  by  which  it  has  been  supported,  is  rather 
fictitious  than  real.  It  is  founded  upon  a  supposi- 
tion, which  is  taken  for  granted  as  being  a  fact, 
but  which  in  reality  is  destitute  of  proof. 

Kk 


250        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VL 
« 

That  all  germs  must  contain  within  them  a  vir- 
tual energy,  to  produce  that  being  or  thing,  of 
which  they  are  the  germs,  must  without  all  doubt 
be  admitted  ;  but  this  is  a  notion,  distinct  from  that 
which  supposes  that  all  the  individual  parts  are  ac- 
tually there.  The  radical  energy  to  produce,  may 
exist,  without  including  any  thing  of  formal  being. 
Where  all  the  parts  are  in  actual  existence,  noth- 
ing more  can  be  necessary,  than  simple  develope- 
ment,  to  unfold  the  latent  members  which  were  pri- 
marily inherent.  But,  this  will  not  be  consistent 
with  the  idea  which  we  have  of  a  germ. 

If  all  the  parts  of  that  body,  which  shall  be  here- 
after, are  now  included  in  its  present  germ  of  future 
existence,  as  parts,  and  nothing  but  simple  deve- 
lopement  be  necessary  to  render  formal  existence 
visible ;  no  new  accession  of  extraneous  particles 
can  be  deemed  necessary  ;  because  the  admitting  of 
the  necessity  of  new  particles  to  fill  up  any  given 
vacuities,  implies  previous  imperfection  in  that  for- 
mal existence,  which  was  admitted.  We  have  as 
much  reason  to  admit  formal  perfection,  as  we  have 
formal  existence  ;  and  the  same  arguments,  which 
will  militate  against  the  one,  must  necessarily  mili- 
tate against  the  other.  That  formal  perfection 
does  not  exist,  is  demonstrated  by  fact ;  and  from 
this  source  we  are  fully  assured  that  those  argu- 
ments, which  would  announce  it,  must  of  necessity 
be  wrong.  And,  without  all  doubt,  could  we  view 
formal  existence,  with  the  same  «irecision  as  we 
view  formal  perjectiouy  we  should  see  equal  reason 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  $5l 

to  discard  both.  Even  the  term  germ  itself  implies 
prematurity  and  imperfection ;  and  we  have  as 
much  reason  to  suppose  that  this  imperfection  and 
prematurity  applies  to  the  formality,  as  well  as  to 
the  completion  of  existence. 

When  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  germ  of  fu- 
ture being,  as  it  applies  to  the  bodies  which  shall 
be  hereafter ;  there  are  two  views  in  which  it  may 
be  contemplated.  The.yfr^/  of  these,  is  to  view  the 
germ  as  being  a  fixed  principle,  to  which  extrane- 
ous atoms  shall  adhere  to  complete  the  frame  ;  and 
the  second  is  to  view  this  germ  as  including  all 
those  particles  which  are  necessary  to  constitute 
that  body  which  shall  survive  the  grave.  On  both 
of  these  we  will  make  some  remarks.  In  the  first 
of  these  views,  a  germ  can  only  be  considered  as  a 
radical  or  seminal  principal,  which  becomes  the 
foundation  of  the  future  body ;  and  is  that,  from 
whence  future  life  shall  eminate.  That  it  is  that 
fixed  principle  which  shall  survive  the  grave ; 
around  which  future  atoms  shall  rally,  and  to  wliich 
they  shall  adhere,  to  form  that  body  which  we  shall 
possess  for  ever. 

If  the  germ  of  being,  which  constitutes  the  cha.- 
racteristic  of  animals  and  plants,  and  which  in  reaU 
ity  seminally  contains  their  essential  powers,  were 
to  contain  within  itself  in  the  present  life,  the  for- 
mal parts  of  those  bodies,  which  are  to  succeed  in 
future  generations ;  then  nothing  more  than  simple 
developement  would  be  necessary  to  complete  the 
future  mass  ;  nor  would  the  adherence  of  any  addi- 
tional atom,    be  necessary  to  give  a  completioji 


0^3        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION   [Chap.  V#. 

which  must  be  supposed  to  be  inherent.  But,  to 
admit  this  supposition,  would  be  to  make  an  end 
of  all  distinctions  between  degrees  of  ponderosity 
and  degrees  of  magnitude ;  it  would  be  to  annihi- 
late those  degrees  which  exist  in  each,  in  proportion 
to  the  specific  quantity  of  matter  that  they  contain. 
This  would,  in  fact,  involve  an  absurdity  ;  because 
it  would  make  a  part  to  contain  a  whole.  But  to 
admit  only  a  mode  of  material  existence,  which  in- 
eludes  within  it  a  virtual,  or  potential  energy  to 
produce  a  future  body,  and  from  which,  all  degrees 
of  magnitude  and  ponderosity  are  perfectly  excluded 
in  the  consideration  ;  the  supposition  will  exclude 
the  absurdities  of  the  last  sentence,  while  the  germ 
itself  will  retain  the  capability  of  becoming  the  foun- 
dation and  permanent  principle  of  that  future  body, 
which  is  presumed  to  result  from  it. 

That  all  causes  include  their  efFects,  will,  perhaps, 
be  denied  by  none  ;  but  we  cannot  conceive,  from 
admitting  this  axiom,  that  effects  reside  in  their 
causes  in  a  formal  manner  ;  or  that  the  effect  can 
ekist  in  its  cause,  in  the  character  of  an  effect.  ,A11 
that  we  can  possibly  conceive  by  such  language,  is, 
that  a  virtual  energy  resides  in  the  cause,  adequate 
to  produce  that  effect  which  we  attribute  to  it,  when 
brought  into  actual  operation. 

Were  we  to  suppose,  that  the  fruit  which  any 
given  tree  should  produce,  actually  existed  in  the 
tree  itself  in  a  formal  manner  ;  the  effect  would,  ia 
many  cases,  be  much  greater  than  its  cause,  which 
we  are  well  assured  is  totally  impossible.  And,  in 
like  manner,  could  uc  suppose,  that  all  the  individ- 


Sect,  m.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  2^ 

ual  parts  of  all  the  posterity  of  Adam,  were  actually 
and  formally  resident  within  the  loins  of  our  great 
progenitor;  it  would  raise  him  into  a  state  of  being 
monstrous  and  absurd.  It  seems,  therefore,  more 
congenial  with  our  understandings  and  judgments, 
to  suppose  that  Adam  possessed  the  power  of  be- 
getting his  posterity,  than  to  conceive  that  all  his 
posterity,  to  the  latest  periods  of  time,  were  actually 
included  or  resident  within  him.  It  is  in  this  view, 
than  an  effect  may  with  the  utmost  propriety,  be 
said  to  reside  within  its  cause.  The  cause  must 
possess  a  virtual  energy,  which  it  is  capable  of  ex- 
erting ;  in  order  to  produce  those  effects,  which 
time  only  can  ripen  into  maturity,  and  which  must 
look  back  to  this  cause  as  the  origin  of  their 
existence. 

But,  even  admitting,  in  the  progress  of  reasoning, 
that  all  effects  actually  reside  within  their  causes ; 
and  that  the  germ  of  being,  for  which  I  contend,  as 
applying  exclusively  to  the  human  body,  contains 
within  it  all  the  minute  and  insensible  parts  of  that 
body  which  shall  be  ;  I  say,  admitting  that  these 
effects  have  this  formal  existence,  yet  I  have  no 
conception  that  this  supposition  would  involve  the 
resurrection  in  any  diiHculty.  For,  in  the  case  be- 
fore us  it  could  not  be  said  to  contain  within  it,  the 
numerical  particles  of  the  body  which  now  isj  but 
of  that  body  which  shall  be  j  and,  therefore,  those 
difficulties  which  may  be  inseparable  from  this  mode 
of  accounting  for  seminal  existence  in  the  present 
life,  can  have  no  kind  of  application  beyond  the 
grave.     I  now  proceed  to  the  second  view. 


S54       IDExNTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  VI. 

The  bodies,  which  shall  be  raised  hereafter  from 
the  sleep  of  death,  we  are  fully  satisfied,  will  be  of 
a  refined  and  spiritual  nature  so  far  as  matter  in  its 
most  exalted  state  can  be  abstracted  from  its  gross- 
ness,  without  losing  any  essential  property  of  its 
nature.  Under  these  circumstances,  the  real  num- 
ber of  particles  which  is  necessary  to  form  that  im- 
mortal and  spiritual  body  which  shall  be,  may  be 
considerably  less  than  that  which  is  necessary  to 
form  those  bodies  which  we  have  in  the  present  life. 
With  the  powers  of  expansion  we  are  but  little 
acquainted ;  it  is  a  term  when  applied  to  the  parti- 
cles of  matter,  to  which  we  can  hardly  annex  any 
precise  idea ;  and  we  are  therefore  unable  to  calcu- 
late upon  its  extent.  How  far  those  particles  which 
shall  compose  our  bodies  hereafter,  may  be  capable 
of  dilation,  and  of  admitting  vacuities  in  their  min- 
ute recesses,  in  order  to  give  extension  to  the  ex- 
tremities of  the  body  which  they  shall  compose,  it 
is  impossible  for  us  to  say.  But,  even  simple  ex- 
tension may  supply  the  place  of  matter ;  and  tend 
to  spiritualize  the  body  which  shall  survive  the 
grave.  On  these  grounds,  an  inconsiderable  num- 
ber of  particles  may  be  sufficient  to  form  the  body; 
and  that  portion  which  now  constitutes  its  identity, 
may  perhaps  contain  within  it  all  those  atoms  which 
may  be  necessary  to  the  formation  of  a  spiritual 
body  beyond  the  grave. 

The  power  of  expansion,  when  applied  to  matter, 
will  open  to  our  view  a  field  of  wonders  which  we 
cannot  fathom  ;  and,  like  that  space  which  suggests 
to  us  the  idea  of  its  existence,  it  seems  an  ocean 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  25« 

without  bottom  and  without  shore.  It  is  a  pathless 
region,  in  which  we  may  wander  in  endless  excur- 
sions, till  we  completely  lose  ourselves  in  our  own 
contemplations. 

As  the  future  bodies,  which  we  expect  to  pos- 
sess beyond  the  grave,  will  be  lights  active^  and 
volatile ;  and  as  the  matter  of  which  they  will  be 
composed,  will  be  so  far  refined,  that  it  will  become 
comparatively  spiritual  in  its  nature  ;  we  are  led 
immediately  to  conclude,  that  the  specific  quantity 
of  matter  wmch  will  be  necessary  then,  can  bear 
but  a  small  proportion  to  the  quantit}?^  which  is  now 
requisite.  The  changes  which  our  present  bodies 
must  undergo  corroborate  this  truth ;  and  induce 
us  to  believe  that  we  have  more  pj^rticles  now,  than 
we  shall  have  then. 

The  particles  expanded  into  a  tenuity,  with  which 
we  are  but  imperfectly  acquainted,  may  sustain  their 
relative  positions  in  the  future  system ;  and  com- 
plete that  organization  which  will  be  necessary  fot 
the  state  which  these  bodies  shall  inherit.  And, 
while  the  density  of  the  parts  which  are  so  neces- 
sary in  the  present  economy  of  life,  shall  be  remov- 
ed ;  the  particles  themselves  which  constituted  it, 
must  be  removed  also,  because  not  wanted.  This 
removal  must  therefore  lighten  the  mass  of  its  cum- 
])erous  load  ;  and  contribute  towards  that  activity^ 
tenuity^  and  energy^  which  shall  remain  forever. 
Our  uniform  expectations  tend  to  confirm  these 
observations  ;  because  they  find  a  mirror  in  every 
feeling  heart. 


'^se        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  VI. 

The  precise  quantity  of  matter  which  may  be 
necessary  to  complete  that  organization  which  our 
bodies  will  then  possess,  may  be  but  exceedingly 
small.  For,  as  the  present  organs  themselves  will 
undergo  surprising  chmges,  and  those  parts  which 
required  the  greatest  compactness  and  density  of 
materials,  will,  in  all  probability  be  done  away ;  a 
small  portion  of  matter  may  be  sufficient  to  fix  those 
organs  in  a  state  of  perpetual  vigour,  which  have 
ripened  in  the  grave,  and  which  shall  flourish  in 
eternity.  And,  therefore,  the  germ  ^hich  is  no\t^ 
lodged  within  us  in  some  secret  and  unapproacha- 
ab!e  recess  of  our  bodies,  may  contain  within  itself 
all  those  numerical  particles,  which  may  be  neces- 
sary to  form  that  future  spiritualized  body,  which 
shall  r.ucceed  to  this  which  we  now  possess. 

The  modification,  indeed,  of  thove  particles 
which  shall  remain,  must  be  totally  changed  ;  and 
perhaps  they  may  be  differently  combined  ;  so  that 
what  now  forms  but  an  invisible  portion  may  be 
diffused  on  every  side.  And  by  the  peculiar  con- 
figuration of  the  parts,  and  exquisite  disposition  of 
the  constituent  materials  ;  this  portion  may  be  ca- 
pable, through  the  power  of  expansion,  of  engross- 
ing the  same  superficcs  of  space  as  our  present  bod- 
ies now  engross. 

It  may,  perhaps,  be  said,  "  that  the  above  obser- 
vations will  make  a  part  to  contain  a  whole."  I  ad- 
mit the  fact,  but  deny  the  absurdity  which  perhaps 
may  be  inferred.  The  utmost  that  can  be  said  is 
tliis,  that  these  observations  n;akc  a  part  of  that 


Sect,  nr.}  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  2$t 

body  which  now  is ^  to  contain  the  whole  of  that  body 
which  shall  be  hereafter^  which  may  be  done  withi 
out  absurdity  or  contradiction. 

Of  the  various  changes  which  our  bodies  shall 
undergo,  we  can  form  but  inadequate  conceptions} 
and  these  conceptions  must  be  much  confused* 
Even  the  stations  which  our  future  bodies  are  des- 
lined  to  occupy,  demand  an  important  change  in 
their  constitution ;  and  afford  much  corroborating 
evidence  to  support  the  sentiment  now  before  us. 

When  all  the  intestines  shall  be  destroyed,  and 
blood  shall  be  no  longer  necessary  to  repair  the 
system — when  the  mediums  of  nutrition  shall  be 
done  away — when  the  organs  of  respiration,  and 
generation  shall  be  for  ever  removed — and  all  dis- 
tinctions of  sex  shall  be  abolis.hed — we  see  convinc- 
ing reasons  why  a  large  proportion  of  our  present 
materials  may  be  spared.  The  removal  of  these 
organs,  and  consequently  of  the  materials  of  which 
they  are  formed,  must  make  a  considerable  deduc- 
tion from  the  general  stock,  as  well  as  form  a  new 
epoch  in  human  existence.  On  these  considera- 
tions, the  reduction  in  real  quantity  must  be  so 
great,  as  to  leave  no  occasion  for  more  particles 
than  what  the  germ  itself  may  be  able  to  supply, 
without  the  admission  of  any  new  atom  into  any  part" 
of  the  spiritualized  system. 

In  the  mean  while,  the  exterior  of  the  human 
figure  may  be  preserved  entire,  in  all  its  parts ;  and 
even  the  particular  turn  of  those  features,  and  coun- 

Ll 


S5»     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  VU 

tenances,*  by  which  we  shall  be  able  to  recognize 
our  departed  friends,  will  be  secured  from  the  in- 
juries of  death  and  the  dissolution  of  the  grave* 
They  will,  in  al  probability,  be  considerably  im- 
proved by  the  changes  which  the  body  shall  have 
undergone ;  at  once  heightened  by  the  flush  of 
youth  which  shall  never  fade ;  with  vigour  which  bhall 
never  decay  ;  and  with  life  which  shall  never  end. 

The  particular  manner,  in  which  this  radical  prin- 
ciple, which  now  constitutes  the  identity  of  the  hu- 
man body  exists,  is  too  obscure  for  our  develope- 
mcnt ;  too  mysterious  for  our  researches.     It  may' 

*  Against  the  supposition,  tliat  the  same  exterior  figure,  and 
particular  turn  of  features  and  countenances  will  be  preserved, 
notwithstanding  the  changes  which  the  body  will  undergo, 
it  may  perhaps  be  objected,  "  That  bodily  defects  and  deformi- 
ties will  be  perpetuated  also."  To'this  I  answer,  that  what  is 
tlius  presumed,  is  by  no  means  a  necessary  consequence  of  the 
theory  for  which  I  contend.  It  is  more  than  probable,  that 
those  deformities  which  we  now  behold,  are  lodged  in  those 
extraneous  parts  which  are  but  mere  appendages  to  the  princi- 
ple of  bodily  identity.  We  are  confirmed  in  this  opinion,  by 
circumstances  of  daily  observation.  When  we  compare  the 
shrivelled  muscles  oi fourscore,  with  the  blush  of  beauty  which 
the  age  of  nineteen  exhibits ;  we  cannot  byt  perceive  compari- 
tive  deformity.  And  yet  Ave  are  fully  assured  that  sa?ne7icss  of 
person  has  continued  under  all  the  stages  of  variation.  The 
same  observations  may  be  made  on  the  complexion  of -those 
countenances,  which  shall  be  preserved.  In  this  aiso,  we  be- 
hold in  the  present  life  some  diminutive  changes.  The  process 
of  corruption  may  therefore  renovate  the  complexion  as  weU 
as  the  body,  and  bring  the  whole  of  the  human  race  to  a  stand- 
ard of  exttrncd  beauty,  of  which  we  ar<3|  iiicompctent  to  forrr. 
adequate  conceptions. 


,^ct.III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  359 

be  so  far  distended  as  to  pervade  the  whole  mass 
of  matter  of  which  our  bodies  are  composed  ;  or  at 
least,  may  form  those  attenuated  outlines,  whicU 
give  permanency  to  our  features  ;  and  to  which  ex- 
traneous matter  adheres  in  the  present  life.  To  this 
portion  the  organs  may  be  annexed;  or  perhaps 
within  its  confines  they  may  be  lodged  ;  and  those 
particles  which  arc  vitally  united  to  it,  in  any  stage 
of  our  present  being,  in  all  probability  become  parts 
of  our  bodies,  from  partaking  of  that  common  life 
which  appears  to  be  connected  with  it.  In  this 
view,  it  becomes  a  medium  of  action,  through  which 
the  exterior  organs  communicate  intelligence  to  the 
immaterial  spirit,  with  which  it  is  connected,  and  to 
which  it  is  allied.  And,  when  the  immaterial  spirit 
which  is  most  probably  united  to  this  principle  of 
identity,  shall  be  removed ;  then  this  principle  of 
identity  shall  be  withdrawn  from  its  distention,  or 
at  least  shall  cease  to  operate ;  and  retirmg  into 
itself,  the  whole  body  shall  sink  into  a  lifelesb  mass. 

From  the  latent  properties  of  this  principle,  it  is 
highly  probable  that  it  may  diffuse  its  attenuated 
fibres,  through  those  parts  which  may  be  considered 
as  the  principal  seats  of  life ;  while  even  that  flexi- 
bility of  texture  which  b  inseparable  from  its  nature, 
may  add  to  the  permanency  t>f  its  being,  and  unite 
its  materials  with  an  adhesion  Vi^hich  shall  continue 
forever. 

Capable  of  retiring  within  Itself,  when  any  pf  the 
organical  parts  are  wounded,  through  which  it  had 
been  diffused,  it  will  lose  no  part  by  such  exterior 


850      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  VI. 

mutilations.  Like  the  sensitive  plant,  it  will  shrink 
from  the  touch  of  violence,  and  hang  upon  its  own 
centre  like  the  virorld  which  we  inhabit.  The  lobes 
of  matter,  through  which  it  had  been  diffused,  but 
from  which  it  is  now  driven  by  force ;  no  longer 
able  to  perform  the  functions  which  were  peculiar 
to  their  station,  while  united  to  the  principle  of  iden- 
tity, may  remain  M'hile  the  uses  of  them  are  totally 
withdrawn,  and  nothing  continues  but  the  configu-* 
ration  of  parts. 

This  germ,  in  which  the  identity  of  the  body  is 
lodged,  having  retired  from  the  forsaken  part,  re- 
moves with  the  removal  of  itself,  all  that  energy 
which  can  distinguish  the  organs  from  the  mere 
modification  of  matter ;  and  will  be  prepared  to 
diffuse  this  energy  which  now  resides  within  itself, 
through  any  new  particles  which  may  be  vitally 
united  to  it.  And,  as  all  matter  is  in  its  own  na- 
ture incorruptible,  and  therefore  placed  beyond  the 
influence  of  dissolution  and  decay  ;  when  this  germ, 
cither  with  or  without  new  particles  of  matter  which 
shall  collect  around  it,  uniting  with  its  immaterial 
partner,  shall  retire  into  a  more  permanent  region, 
where  it  shall  be  for  ever  removed  from  those  ex- 
ternal causes  which  in  our  present  state  are  capable 
of  destroying  the  adhesion  and  cement  of  matter  in 
almost  every  form  j  it  shall  commence  a  mode  of 
being  which  shall  continue  through  eternityt  For, 
what  being  soever  shall  inhabit  a  state  into  which 
nothing  shall  enter,  and  in  v/hich  nothing  can  exist 
that  is  capable  of  conducting  it  towards  a  state  of 
dissolution,  that  being,  whatsoever  may  be  the  n\p- 


Sect.  III.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  251 

dification  of  its  nature,  must  necessarily  be  immor- 
tal, and  consequently  must  continue  for  ever. 

It  is  to  this  germ  of  future  being  that  the  imma. 
terial  spirit  is,  most  probably,  united  in  the  present 
life,  though  by  ways  and  modes  which  we  cannot 
comprehend  ;  and  it  is  to  this  that  it  shall  be  again 
reunited,  and  with  which  it  shall  continue  for  ever. 
While  in  a  state  of  union  with  the  spirit,  in  this  life, 
its  immortal  partner  caused  it  to  be  diffused  through 
the  vital  parts  of  the  corporeal  mass.  But,  after 
this  spirit  was  withdrawn,  it  shrivelled  and  retired 
within  itself.  During  this  state  of  separation,  it 
continued  in  a  torpid  state ;  but  when  a  reunion 
shall  again  take  place,  it  will  again  put  forth  its  ex- 
pansive powers.  And,  as  the  union  shall  be  per- 
petual, it  shall  continue  in  a  diffused  state,  never 
more  to  sink  into  a  state  of  torpor  and  inactivity. 

In  our  estimation  of  material  objects,  and  calcu- 
lation upon  them,  we  decide  upon  the  quantity  of 
different  bodies  of  equal  magnitudes  by  the  specific 
gravity  of  each.  But,  in  that  state  where  gravity 
shall  probably  be  done  away,  and  be  removed  from 
matter,  our  estimate  of  its  quantity  must  be  with- 
out a  guide  ;  because  the  standard  by  which  we 
measured  quantity  will  be  unknown  ;  and  unless 
some  new  standard  shall  be  attained  by  us,  the  spe- 
cific quantity  of  which  our  bodies  shall  be  composed 
must  continue  unknown  for  ever. 

Under  these  circumstances,  when  all  gravity  shall 
be  removed  from  that  matter  of  which  our  bodies 
shall  be  composed  :  it  will  be  impossible  to  ascer- 
tain what  degrees  of  solidity  they  shall  contain  j  and 


265         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VL 

the  solidity  being  u  known,  the  extent  of  their  vola- 
tilit    must  be  unknown  also.     That  part,  therefore, 
which  iiotv  forms  but  a  minute  portion,  but  contains 
the  identity  of  <'ur  bodies,   may   have,  compacted 
wiJiia  it,  a  sufficiency  of  solidity  to  form  all  the  parts 
of  our  •ai:^ile  and  volatile  bodies,  which  we  shall  in- 
herit in  a   Juiure  world.     Thi.  loss  of  gravity  may 
Cuuribute  to  establ  sh  its  activity  ;  and  the  impulse 
of  tiie  will  may  supersede  the  necessity  of  muscular 
exertion.     And  the  body  under  these  circumstances, 
may  be  capable  of  a  transition  from  place  to  place, 
with  a  velosiy  isomewhat  analagous  to  that  of  light. 
Tne  fikil   result  of  these  reasonings  therefore  is, 
that  though  it  is  highly  proimble  that  a  mu:titude  of 
particles  will   uaie   hereafter  with  that   principle, 
which  constiiutes  the  identity  of  our  bodies  here  ; 
yet  there  can  be  no  absolut*^  necessity  that  any  new 
particles  must   be  united,  or  that  all,  or  even  the 
majority  of  those   which  had  been  vitally   united  to 
the  body  in  any  given  period  of  its  existence,  sh  iild 
again  come  forth,  m  the  resurrection,  to  form  these 
bodii.  s  which  v  e  hope  to  possess  hereafter.     If  these 
reasonings  and  conclusions   be  admitted,  all  those 
objections  which  are  drawn  from  the  changes  of  our 
bo('ies,  are  at  once  oiwiated;    and  those  questions 
which  are  proposed  about  the  sameness  of  numeri- 
cal   particles  are  fully  answered,  without  involving 
any  difficulties  of  a  serious  nature. 

The  particles,  which  had  occasionally  adhered  to 
the  body,  (in  admitting  tliis  theory)  mny  incorporate 
with  various  bodies,  without  interfering  witli  the 
identity  of  either  ;  or  interrupting  the  final  comple 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  363 

tion  of  our  future  ctherial  frames.  In  this  view,  we 
plainly  discover  how  corruption  may  put  on  incor- 
ruption;  how  this  mortal  may  put  ©n  immonality  ; 
and  how  that  which  was  sown  a  natunil,  shall  be 
raised  a  spiritual  body  ;  and  also  how  this  spiritual 
body  shall  edure  throuc^l^out  eternity,  without 
involving  those  difficulties,  which  on  any  other 
principles  seem  connected  with  the  resurrection  o£ 
the  dead. 

The  local  notions,  which  we  have  of  justice  and 
injustice,  as  they  apply  to  the  claims  of  each  and 
every  particle,  as  having  a  portion  in  the  resurrec- 
tion, cannot  be  involved  in  the  theory  before  us.  All 
matter  is  in  /fie//  unconscious  and  inert;  and  must 
for  that  reason  be  alike  incapable  of  plea  u re  or  of 
pain.  Exaltation  and  degradation  must  be  wholly 
inapplicable:  and  remunerative  justice  must  be 
totally  discharged  from  the  situation,  which  the  par- 
ticles may  finally  occupy. 

That  vitality,  to  which  alone  moral  action  could 
have  any  possible  relation,  and  which  alone  can  in- 
volve the  moral  and  remunerative  justice  of  God; 
must  be  exclusively  confined  to  this  principle  of 
identity,  and  to  that  immaterial  spirit  to  which  it  is 
at  once  united  and  allied.  And,  as  both  shall  retain 
their  respective  energies  throughout  eternity,  the 
divine  justice  will  appear  conspicuous  in  rewarding 
and  punishing  those  individuals,  in  their  spirits  and 
in  the  essential  pr(,'perties  of  their  bodies,  both  of 
which  in  unalienable  sameness  shall  continue  for 
ever.  And,  although  multitudes  of  those  atoms, 
which  in  the  present  life  were  connected  with  the 


26i         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  Vt, 

permanent  principles  of  the  body,  shall  be  separated, 
and  separated  for  ever  ;  and,  although  no  additional 
particles  should  succeed  to  supply  their  places ;  yet 
as  the  principle  of  identity  is  still  the  same  that  it 
ever  had  been,  nothing  can  be  said  to  be  removed 
from  it,  which  was  capable  of  moral  action ;  or 
which  is  now  capable  either  of  reward  or  punish- 
ment, because  incapable  of  joy  or  pain;  and  which 
consequently,  cannot  involve  the  justice  of  God. 

The  particles,  which  have  been  separated  from 
their  former  connection,  during  any  part  of  the  pro- 
cess of  nature,  either  in  life,  or  during  the  repose 
of  the  grave  can  feel  no  interest  whatsoever  in  the 
changes  which  they  have  undergone  ;  or  in  the  fu- 
ture purpose  to  which  they  may  be  applied.  To 
•*  float  in  the  breeze,  or  shiver  in  the  grass,"  to  roll 
in  the  ocean,  or  to  become  stationary  in  the  rock, 
must  be  of  equal  indifference  ;  because,  removed 
from  their  union  with  that  principle  of  vitality  with 
which  they  were  once  connected,  they  must  be  inca- 
pable of  all  sensation.  They  can  only  possess  those 
essential  properties  which  are  inseparable  from  the 
substance  of  matter,  to  which  rewards  and  punish- 
ments cannot  apply.  The  Divine  justice  is  not 
therefore  involved  in  the  question  before  us ;  nor 
15  it  bound  to  collect  together  the  numerical  parti- 
cles, which,  at  any  given  period  of  existence,  were 
united  with  the  principle  of  identity,  which  shall  be 
preserved  for  ever,  from  all  mutation  and  decay. 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  265 

SECTION  IV. 

Probable  Arguments,    That  the  Changes  through 
zahich  onr  ■  Bodies  have   already  passed,  area 
Groundivork  ofjuiure  expectatfbns  i  and  ensure, 
upon  principles  of  Analogy,  the  J^esurrection  of 
the  Human  Body, 

This  portion  of  matter  which  constitutes  the 
identity  of  the  body,  being  forsaken  by  its  immate- 
rial partner  at  the  hour  of  death,  and  separated  from 
those  gross  materials  which  were  found  adhering  to 
it  in  the  present  life  ;  must  commence  at  the  period 
of  its  resurrection,  a  form  of  life  which  we  cannot 
adequately  comprehend.  We  are,  therefore,  about 
to  enter  a  region,  in  which  comparative  analogy 
must  be  our  only  guide. 

That  ti\ere  are  in  the  human  soul  new  faculties, 
which  have  not  yet  unfolded  themselves,  we  have 
much  reason  to  believe ;  when  we  turn  our  thoughts 
to  what  is  past.  And,  from  finding  those  faculties 
which  we  have  in  the  present  state  of  our  existence, 
exactly  suited  tp  the  station  which  God  has  called 
us  to  sustain  ;  we  are  led  to  conclude  that  those 
faculties  which  shall  be  unfolded  hereafter,  will  pos- 
sess an  appropriate  relation  to  those  objects  with 
which  we  shall  be  conversant ;  and  be  peculiarly 
adapted  to  those  regions  which  we  shall  then  inha- 
bit. Why  then  may  we  not  infer  from  just  analogy 
that  the  same  or  similar  changes  will  take  place  in 
its  material  partner,  though  the  ways  and  modes  in 
which  these  changes  shall  be  accomplished  in  botli, 

M  m 


36ft        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTiON  [Chap.  VI. 

are  alike  unknown  ?  In  our  present  state,  we  dis- 
cover in  the  soul  those  faculties  which  are  suitable 
to  its  present  condition ;  and  from  what  is  unfolded 
we  calculate  upon  what  lies  concealed.  And,  from 
those  bodily  powers  which  we  possess,  we  presume 
upon  those  which  are  reserved  to  put  forth  their 
vigour,  when  the  process  of  the  grave  shall  be  pass- 
ed away,  and  time  shall  conduct  us  to  the  regions 
of  eternit}^ 

These  analogical  conclusions  are  warranted  to  us 
by  our  contemplations  of  what  has  already  taken 
place  in  man,  both  in  his  material  and  intellectual 
powers.  The  astonishing  changes  which  all  human 
beings  undergo,  from  their  first  formation  in  the 
womb,  till  they  reach  the  zenith  of  their  material 
and  intellectual  powers,  are  facts  which  bid  defiance 
to  comparative  calculations ;  they  outsoar  all  our 
conjectures,  and  even  arrest  impossibility  in  its 
infinite  distance  from  us. 

In  the  womb,  we  discover  nothing  higher  than  a 
organic  or  vegetative  life.  But  the  change  of  station 
produces  a  change  in  condition,  which  is  at  once 
astonishing  and  incomprehensible.  Organic,  or 
vegetative  life  immediately  subsides,  and  gives  place 
to  that  which  is  animal,  the  instant  that  an  infant 
enters  the  world  ;  and  respiration,  which  was  per- 
fectly unknown  before,  becomes  now  essentially 
necessary  to  future  animal  life.  These  are  facts, 
which  are  self-evident.  If  then,  the  change  of  our 
station  from  the  womb  to  the  present  life,  be  pro- 
ductive cf  changes  in  our  manner  of  existence  ; — if 
we,  from  organic  or  vegetative  Ufe^  proceed  to 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  90 

that  which  is  animal^  and  from  animal  to  that  which 
is  rational  ;  why  may  we  not  justly  infer,  when  a 
similar  or  a  greater  change  shall  pass  upon  us  at 
death,  which  will  totally  alter  our  manner  of  exis- 
tence, that  a  similar  or  greater  change  will  take 
place  in  those  bodily  powers,  as  well  as  mentiil  fa- 
culties which  we  possess  ? 

In  our  embryo  state,  our  faculties  and  powers 
were  exactly  suited  to  our  vegetative  situation  ;  all 
was  dormant,  sluggish,  inactive,  and  almost  un- 
known. In  our  present  station  those  faculties 
which  had  ripened  through  our  infant  process,  put 
forth  their  powers  ;  and  are  evidently  accommoda-. 
ted  to  the  station  which  we  now  occupy,  and  which 
they  were  destined  to  fill.  And  such,  in  all  proba- 
bility, may  be  the  nature  of  their  constitution,  that 
nothing  but  the  process  of  the  womb^  the  vegetative 
manner  of  life,  and  the  animal  condition  through 
which  we  have  passed,  could  call  forth  these  powers 
into  their  present  state  of  partially  mature  existence. 

Every  thing,  which  is  produced  by  God,  is  the 
result  of  the  most  consummate  wisdom  ;  the  order 
of  nature  cannot  be  inverted,  nor  can  human  inge- 
nuity amend  the  plan  which  we  behold.  The  book 
of  nature  affords  us  an  exposition  of  these  truths  ; 
but  in  no  branch  does  infinite  wisdom  appear  with 
more  conspicuous  lustre,  than  in  the  formation  of 
man ;  and  in  those  progressive  steps,  through  which 
he  is  obliged  to  pass,  from  organic  or  vegetative  ex- 
istence to  the  maturity  of  the  present  life* 


^6»        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION   [Clup.  VL 

If  our  reasoning  powers  had  been  bestowed  upon 
us,  while  we  were  confined  within  the  womb,  they 
would  evidently  have  been  in  that  state,  bestowed 
in  vain.  And  if  that  vegetative  life,  vvhich  we  then 
possessed,  had  been  vvithholden,  life  itself  would 
have  been  impossible,  according  to  all  our  modes  of 
reasoning.  In  like  manner,  if  vegetative  life  had 
been  communicated  to  man  in  his  mature  state, 
even  animation  would  be  an  affliction  ;  and  if,  in 
this  mature  state,  our  reasoning  powers  had  been 
denied,  life  itself  would  be  little  better  than  an  in- 
tolerable burden.  Thus  then,  the  powers  which 
God  has  bestowed,  both  mental  and  bodily,  are 
exactly  fitted  to  those  stations  which  he  has  called 
us  to  occupy  ;  and  we  ai;e  obliged  by  the  force  of 
unquestionable  evidence,  to  acquiesce  in  this  con- 
clusion,— That  God  in  all  his  works  has  manifested 
perfection^  and  that  he  has  not  made  any  thing  in 
vain. 

The  remarks,  winch  have  been  made  in  the  pre- 
ceding paragraph,  are  founded  upon  a  supposition, 
that  Such  lui  inversion  was  possible  as  that  which  has 
been  stated  ;  and  in  the  conclusions,  which  have  been 
drawn,  we  see  the  fital  consequences  which  would 
ensue  if  that  possibility  were  reduced  to  fact.  But, 
that  such  events  are  even  possible  in  all  theit  parts, 
I  am  far  from  admitting.  The  progress  of  those 
gradations,  through  which  vve  have  passed,  was 
without  all  doubt  necessary,  to  call  cur  faculties  and 
powers  from  their  immature  to  their  present  state ; 
and  on  that  account,  it  formed  a  necessary  step  to- 


§cct.  IV.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  269 

wards  this  perfection  which  the  human  powers 
have  attained.  If,  therefore,  the  changes  which  I 
have  presumed,  had  taken  place,  they  must  have 
involved  absurdities  which  are  inseparable  from  the 
possibility  which  has  been  presumed.  We  must,  in 
this  case,  have  presumed  that  maturity  could  have 
taken  place  in  a  state  of  immaturity ;  and  that  im^ 
viaturity  must  have  existed  in  a  state  oi  maturity  ; 
the  absurdity  and  contradictoriness  of  which  i<t  is 
useless  to  pursue.  It  must,  therefore,  be  admitted, 
as  an  evident  conclusion,  that  the  condition  in 
which  God  has  placed  us,  is  necessary  for  the  use 
of  our  present  powers  ;  and  that  the  present  pow- 
ers which  we  possess,  are  alike  necessary  to  our 
present  condition. 

In  this  view,  whether  we  look  to  the  present 
state,  or  to  that  which  has  preceded  it,  both  are 
confined  by  boundaries  which  they  cannot  pass ; 
while  they  are  connected  together  by  ties  which  arc 
indissoluble.  The  variation  in  our  condition  seems 
to  establish  the  boundaries,  as  well  as  the  necessity 
of  them,  which  divide  the  states  which  we  contem- 
plate. The  continuance  of  this  life  fixes  the  bound- 
aries between  our  embryo  and  our  future  state ;  it 
is,  therefore,  in  this  region  alone  that  our  bodily 
powers  can  exert  themselves.  In  like  manner,  our 
state  of  being  in  the  womb  fixed  those  boundarieis 
which  divided  vegetative  from  animal  life.  In  each 
of  these  states,  we  perceive  powers  and  faculties, 
which  are  commensurate  with  our  wants  ;  in  which 
we  perceive  that  nothing  is  either  given  or  withs 


270      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  VI. 

holden,  which  was  necessary  to  our  being  ;  so  that 
neither  deficiency  nor  redundencv,  can  be  predica- 
ted of  the  works  of  God. 

Thus  far  we  have  seen  in  what  is  past,  analogy 
founded  upon  fact.  Our  observations  have,  how- 
ever, been  confined  to  the  embryo  and  the  present 
state  of  man.  In  these  we  have  seen  those  faculties 
and  powers  unfold  themselves,  which  were  peculiar 
to  the  stations  which  we  have  contemplated  ;  and 
in  which  progression,  became  necessary  to  ripen  to 
maturity  the  various  powers  which  we  have  beheld. 
We  have  seen  the  changes  in  station  which  we  have 
already  undergone,  from  an  embryo  to  a  mature 
state ;  and  we  have  seen  those  changes  in  our  cow- 
ditio?i,  which  have  .  been  associated  with  the  states 
of  being  through  which  we  have  passed.  A 
recurrence,  therefore,  to  what  has  passed,  will  be- 
come a  groundwork  of  our  analogical  reasoning, 
and  give  us  coniidence  in  those  inquiries  where  pro- 
bability cannot  be  supported  by  fact. 

A  change  in  our  situation  of  being,  can  hardly  be 
conceived,  without  our  connecting  with  it,  a  propor- 
tionable change  in  the  condition  of  that  being  which 
is  presumed.  If,  therefore,  the  changes  which  we 
have  already  discovered  in  our  condition  of  being, 
resulting  from  our  alteration  in  mode  of  existence, 
have  been  so  great,  what  have  we  not  to  contemplate, 
when  such  changes  shall  take  place  upon  us,  as  we 
have  reason  to  expect,  when  mortality  shall  be  swal- 
lowed up  in  immortal  life  ? 
The    changes   through  which  we  have  passed, 


Sect.  IV.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  27! 

have  called  into  action  all  our  reasoning  poweri 
which  we  possess ;  powers,  which  nothing  but  the 
various  process  through  which  we  have  moved  could 
ripen;  and  which,  were  it  not  for  these  changes, 
must  have  Iain  dormant  and  inactive  for  ever.  In 
like  manner,  the  analogy  is  equally  good,  when  we 
apply  it  to  our  future  being.  When  that  change, 
which  death  shall  make  upon  us,  shall  take  place ;  we 
are  taught  to  expect  from  what  is  past,  that  new  pow- 
ers and  faculties  will  ripen  into  birth,  and  put  forth 
that  vigour  which  shall  flourish  through  eternity. 

To  behold  human  nature  in  its  embryo  state,  and 
to  form  calculations  from  the  evidences  which  then 
appear,  upon  the  future  station  and  condition  which 
the  embryo  shall  sustain  and  exhibit,  must  exceed 
the  boldest  conjecture  of  man.  In  the  original 
state  of  things,  the  thought  would  have  been  daring, 
that  should  have  presumed  to  conceive  any  state  more 
excellent  than  that  which  was  perceived ;  and  yet 
we  have  on  these  casts  ocular  demonstration,  that 
the  boldest  conjecture  is  outdone  by  fact.  But  in 
the  subject  of  the  resurrection  which  we  contem- 
plate, we  have  before  us  those  previous  changes 
which  we  have  undergone  ;  and  these  become  a  per- 
manent groundwork  of  our  future  calculations. 
We  may,  therefore,  rationally  presume,  that  we 
view  but  a  minute  part  of  those  faculties  which 
shall  be  unfolded  hereafter  ;  and  that  we  can  form 
only  inadequate  calculations  on  that  mode  of  being 
which  God  has  reserved  for  our  bodies  and  souls, 
when  they  sljall  be  re- united  beyond  the  grave. 


278        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Ch:»p.  VI. 

Wc  have  already  seen,  that  our  separation  from 
the  womb  has  called  reason  into  action,  and  given 
to  our  bodies  animal  life.  Why  then,  may* not  that 
change,  which  death  shall  occasion,  awaken  new 
faculties  and  powers,  as  superior  to  those  which  we 
now  possess,  as  those  which  we  possess  are  to  those 
which  aie  possessed  by  an  embryo  in  tlie  womb  ? 

From  orjranic  or  vearetative  life,  we  have  seen  ani- 
mal  life  commence,  through  a  change  which  has  al- 
ready taken  place.  And,  why  maj'  we  not  infer 
that  when  a  similar  or  superior  change  shall  take 
place  by  death,  that  the  animal  life  shall  be  suc- 
ceeded by  that  \^■hich  is  spiritual ;  though  we  were 
to  know  no  more  at  present  of  the  way  and  manner 
of  that  spiritual  life,  than  an  embryo  in  the  womb 
can  know  of  this  mode  of  life  which  we  now  enjoy  ? 

From  virtual  existence,  and  potential  energy, 
we  have  seen  formal  being  to  result,  through  the  pro- 
cess of  an  astonishing  change.  Why  then  may  not 
another  change,  which  shall  be  equally  astonishing, 
transform  formal  being  into  perpetual  existence  ? 

From  matter,  apparently  lifeless  and  inert,  ^^c 
have  seen  energies  and  powers  of  loco-motion  arise. 
And  why,  from  existent  energies  and  loco-motion, 
may  not  the  powers  of  contraction  and  expansion 
step  forth  into  existence  ? — Why,  from  the  energies 
and  loco-motion  which  our  bodies  now  possess, 
may  not  the  power  of  transformation  take  place  ? 
Why  may  not  the  body,  which  shall  be  spiritual,  b« 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  973 

capable  of  transporting  itself  with  inconceivable 
velocity,  through  that  endless  variety  of  regions, 
which  shall  be  for  ever  teeming  with  beauties,  which 
shall  be  forever  new  ? 

We  have  seen  two  distant  natures  so  united,  that 
their  interests  are  become  mutual,  and  in  many 
cases  their  dependencies  reciprocal,  effected  by  ties 
which  are  invisible  ;  it  cannot,  therefore,  be  unrea- 
sonable to  infer  that  the  body,  though  material,  may 
be  capable  of  a  re-union  with  its  long  lost  partner, 
through  ties  which  even  eternity  shall  not  be  able 
to  dissolve. 

We  have  seen  in  the  present  life  this  union  sub- 
sist occasionally  through  one  hundred  years ; 
though  the  body  has  been  encircled  with  disasters, 
and  exposed  to  the  action  of  the  elements,  and 
though  gravitation  has  been  continually  acting  upon 
its  dissoluble  parts.  Why  then  may  we  not  con- 
clude, when  both  soul  and  body  shall  be  removed 
from  the  occasions  of  their  separation,  that  the  same 
ties  may  unite  them  together,  through  a  period  of 
duration  in  which  the  mind  is  lost  in  the  immensity 
of  members,  when  the  measurements  of  time  shall 
be  no  more  ? 

Through  a  change,  which  has  taken  place,  we 
have  seen  inertness  put  on  activity  and  vigour, 
though  the  substance  is  purely  material.  Why  then 
may  we  not  reasonably  conclude,  that  the  same  subr 
stance  through  another  change,  may  put  on  immor- 
tality and  eternal  life  ? 

N  n 


Sf  4         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

We  have  seen  five  distinct  senses  spring  forth,  in 
a  substance  which  was  originally  destitute  of  any, 
through  a  change  which  has  passed  upon  its  mode 
of  existence;  and  from  this  circumstance  we  have 
every  reason  to  suppose  that  a  similar  change  will 
produce  other  senses,  as  new  in  their  natures,  and 
as  distinct  from  one  another.  And,  if  five  new 
senses  could  be  communicated  to  a  portion  of  mat- 
ter, which  was  originally  destitute  of  them ;  why- 
may  we  not  expect  more  senses  from  those  bodies 
which  now  possess  them,  when  another  change  shall 
take  place  ?  And  why  may  we  not  expect,  that  those 
senses  which  wc  hope  to  possess,  shall  be  infinitely 
superior  in  point  of  nature,  and  far  exceeding  in 
point  of  energy  and  acuteness,  the  most  exahed 
which  we  have  yet  beheld  ?  We  have  reason  to 
expect  that  these  effects  will  be  produced,  by 
changes  which  will  be  more  surprising  than  any 
which  we  have  undergone. 

We  have  seen  organs  of  the  most  astonishing 
constructions,  arise  from  a  chaotic  mass  of  unor- 
ganized materials,  and  become  the  inlets  of  such 
knowledge,  as  nothing  but  the  certainty  of  fact 
could  induce  us  to  believe.  And,  if  unorganized 
matter  has  been  capable  of  becoming  organized 
and  these  organs  of  becoming  the  inlets  of  know- 
ledge, the  most  astonishing  and  vast ; — of  produc- 
ing senses  so  distinct,  and  yet  so  uniform  ; — so  sim- 
J)le,  and  yet  so  comprehensive  ; — capable  of  scru- 
tinizing an  atom,  or  of  grasping  a  world  ; — of  g^n- 


dect.  IV.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  27^ 

tcmplating  the  beauties  of  both,  or  of  anallzing  the 
constituent  parts  of  either  ; — if,  I  say,  such  senses 
as  we  thus  possess,  have  been  produced  in  our  bo- 
dies,  and  have  come  forward  to  this  state  of  perfec- 
tion which  we  discover,  and  that  through  the  me- 
dium of  those  changes,   which  we  have   seen  the 
body  already  undergo  ?  Why  may  not  new  organs 
arise  from  another  change,   new   modifications  take 
place  in   the   arrangements  of  the   parts,   and  new 
senses  develope  themselves,  as  well  as  new  modes 
of  communicating  and  acquiring  knowledge,   beam 
forth  in  all  their  lustre,   and   discover  to  us  such 
fountains  of  intelligence,  as  may  at  once  astonish  us, 
and  absorb   our  powers  of  intellect   in  scenes  of 
which  we  can  at  present,  have  no  kind  of  concep- 
tion ?    And,  as  our  birth  is  but  one  link  in  the  chain 
of  our  existence,  and  comparative  perfection  has  re- 
sulted from  it,  we  may  justly  infer,  that  genuine 
perfection  cannot  be  attained,  until  all  those  changes 
which  are   necessary  thereto  shall  be  undergone. 
And,  therefore,  death,  with  all   its  gloomy  horrors, 
must  form  a  necessary  part  in  the   important  pro- 
cess ;  and  conduce  to  the  ripening  of  our  faculties, 
and  to  the  preparation  of  ouribodies,  at  least  those 
essential  parts  of  them  in  which  their  identity  con- 
sists, for  their  future  habitations  in  the  regions  of 
immortality. 

Through  the  changes  which  our  bodies  have 
passed,  we  have  seen  articulation  to  arise  from  the 
motion  of  matter ;  and  by  this  means  our  organs 


2/6      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chsp.  VL 

have  been  made  subservient  to  the  communication 
of  our  thoughts.  The  same  medium,  when  refined 
by  death,  and  the  subsequent  process  of  the  grave, 
may  be  rendered,  through  the  tenuity  of  their 
nature,  more  exquisitely  applicable  to  the  same 
office,  capable  of  communicating  more  sublime 
intelligence. 

The  body,  hereafter,  may  be  a  necessary  vehicle 
of  the  spirit,  through  the  organs  of  which  it  may 
display  its  communications.  By  the  loss  of  its  gross 
materials,  it  may  be  softened  wivh  flexibility,  and 
rendered  suitable  to  the  station  which  it  shall  here- 
after occupy,  without  retarding  the  movements  of 
the  soul,  or  obstructing  its  various  operations.  It 
may  fill  the  double  station  of  medium  and  shield, 
it  may  serve  the  office  of  vehicle,  through  which 
communications  will  be  made,  while  it  shall  temper 
the  rays  of  (what  would  be  otherwise)  unsufferable 
glory.  Thus  its  flexibility  will  prevent  all  ob- 
structions to  the  spirit ;  and  the  materiality  of  its 
nature,  Will  -  make  it  capable  of  subserving  those 
purposes  Avhich  are  wanting  to  be  supplied. 

We  here  behold  our  organs  of  speech  exactly 
suited  to  the  station  which  we  hold  in  existence, 
and  to  the  region  which  we  inhabit.  And  this  suit- 
ableness has  been  directed  by  infinite  goodness, 
to  accompany  our  changes  of  existence  ;  to  accom- 
modate our  wants  in  this  temporary  abode.  From 
these  circumstances,  we  are  therefore  justified  in 
inferring,  that  when  the  change  of  death  shall  pass 


Sect*  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  2rr 

upon  us,  another  important  alteration  will  take  place 
in  our  organical  departments,  by  which  they  shall 
be  prepared  for  those  regions  which  they  shall  inherit 
for  ever.  Through  this  process,  new  faculties  will, 
without  all  doubt,  make  their  appearance,  which  are 
now  in  an  embryo  state;  just  as  those  faculties  did 
which  we  now  possess,  and  which  before  our  birth, 
were  in  a  similar  embryo  state.  In  those  changes 
which  we  expect  to  undergo,  many  of  our  present 
organs  shall  be  done  away ;  many  new  ones  shall  ap- 
pear; many  shall  undergo  a  new  modification,  and 
supply  present  defects ;  so  that  the  whole  shall  form 
the  most  important  epoch  in  human  existence ;  and 
thus  the  revolution  of  our  bodily  powers,  which  shall 
commence  in  death,  shall  move  onward  in  progres- 
sion through  the  grave,  and  be  finally  consummated 
in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

Under  all  those  various  considerations,  from 
whence  I  have  endeavoured  to  infer  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  body,  the  changes  through  which  it 
must  pass,  and  the  mode  of  being  which  it  shall  sus- 
tain hereafter,  our  expectations  are  not  equal  to  the 
certainties  whJfch  we  possess,  and  from  which  the 
inferences  have  beeo  made.  The  distance  between  an 
embryo  state  and  the  present  life,  is  not  so  great  as 
that  which  lies  between  this  life  and  the  next ;  and 
yet  we  have  seen  greater  changes  result  from  that^ 
than  any  which  we  expect  {torn  this.  And  if  changes 
less  extensive  in  slation^  have  produced  changes 
more  extensive  in  condition  ;  the  inferences  which 
we  have  made  are  perfectly  justifiable  upon  princi- 
ples of  analogical  reasoning  ;  and  when  the  greatest 


278         IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

of  all  possible  changes  shall  take  place,  we  may- 
expect  with  justice  effects  of  the  last  importance 
to  follow. 

The  distance  from  death  to  another  life  is  much 
greater  than  from   an  embryo  state  to  the  present 
condition  of  man :    but  as  the  changes  which  wc 
expect  to  result  from  the  former  are  not  so  great 
in  proportion,  as  those  which  we  have  already  seen 
resulting  from  the  latter ;  our  expectations  of  a  re- 
surrection and  of  the  consequent  state  of  the  body, 
are  founded  upon  the  certainty  of  what  has  already 
taken  place  in  man.     On  this  point  let  it  be  finally 
observed,    that  when  we  view  man  in  an  embryo 
state,  abstracted  from  every   other  consideration, 
we  can  perceive  nothing  to  justify  our  expectations 
that  he  will  be  possessed  of  those  senses  which  af- 
terwards develope  themselves  ;  but,  when  we  view 
him  in  his  present  state,  we  reason  from  what  has 
already  taken  place ;  we  take   his  acquirements  as 
the  data  of  our  future  speculations,  and  from  thence 
infer   those   astonishing  perfections    and    changes 
which  are  reserved  for  a  future  life.     Hence  we  may 
with  safety  conclude,  from  these  braftches  of  analo- 
gical reasoning,  that  we  have  before  us  all  the  evi- 
dence which  can  be  expected  from  this  quarter.  The 
whole  seems  to  terminate  in  moral  certainty,  and  to 
produce  in  the  reflecting  mind,  a  full  conviction  of 
the  fact  which  we  intend  to  establish. 

But,  there  are  other  branches  which  it  may  not 
be  improper  to  introduce  ;  because  they  will  tend 
to  illuminate  the  shades  with  which  we  are  encir- 
cled.    The  mediums,  through  which  our  present 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  579 

mode  of  life  is  preserved,  are  peculiarly  adapted  to 
our  present  condition  of  life.  But  these  mediums 
must  be  exclusively  confined  to  our  present  abode. 
Before  it  took  place,  and  after  it  bhall  be  done  away, 
the  mediums  of  preservation  to  which  I  allude  cm 
have  no  buitable  application. 

We  have  seen  a  state  of  existence,  in  which  teeth 
were  not  in  being  in  the  early  stages  of  infancy  : 
because  they  were  not  necessary  to  tliat  state,  'i'he 
stomach  and  the  intestines  existed  only  in  embryo, 
as  preparatory  to  the  present  state  ;  and  though  nu- 
trition and  existence  are  inseparably  connected  in 
the  present,  we  may  easily  learn  from  this  circum- 
stance that  the  connection  is  only  of  a  local  nature. 
Why  then  may  we  not  rationally  conclude,  though 
all  these  instruments  of  nutrition  shall  be  done 
away,  that  existence  shall  cominue  in  a  future  state 
of  being,  in  which  all  future  occasions  for  them  will 
be  removed  ;  and  in  which  they  must  be  either  use- 
less or  unknown  P  Analogy  will  justify  this  conclu- 
sion ;  though  we  Cannot  comprehend  how  existence 
can  be  possible  without  respiration,  and  without 
nutritive  aid. 

A  material  being  that  can  continue  to  exist  with- 
out nutrition,  must  exist  in  ways  and  modes  totally- 
different  from  those  with  which  we  are  acquainted. 
And  the  supposition  that  our  bodies  can  survive  in 
this  manner,  necessarily  implies  that  they  must  have 
undergone  such  surprising  changes  as  we  have  al- 
ready hinted,  but  which  we  have  never  actually 
known.  The  difference  between  the  condition  of 
an  embryo  in  the  womb  and  that  of  an  adult  in  the 


280       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION      [Chap.  VI. 

enjoyment  of  life,  can  bear  but  a  faint  resemblance 
to  he  dislaiice  between  the  constitution  of  an  adult, 
and  the  constitution  of  his  body  beyond  the  grave. 

U\  all  the  movles  of  animal  existence,  with  wh-ch 
wt  are  acquainted,  nutrition  seems  to  be  a  necessary 
atijimct  of  life;  and  it  will  baffle  our  deepest  re- 
seaicheb  to  contrive  a  mode,  through  which  life 
may  be  preserved  without  it.  But,  this  can  amount 
to  no  argument  against  the  fact.  It  will  be  produ- 
ced, in  ail  probability,  b*.  ways  the  most  astonish- 
ing, and  yet  \\\t  most  simple,  and  burst  upon  (  ur 
am;iZ 'd  understandings,  in  ways  wliich  can  only  be 
compreheuiied  by  faculties  which  we  do  not  at  pre- 
sent possess,  and  of  which  we  cannot  have  a  distant 
apprehension. 

As  the  faculties  which  we  now  have,  are  insuffi- 
cient to  comprehend  that  simple  mode  of  existence, 
uhich  God  has  reseiye^d  for  our  bodies  hereafter; 
death  it  elf,  v\hi  h  we  view  as  the  greatest  evil,  may 
be  necessary,  not  only  to  produce  that  mode  of  life, 
but  also  to  mature  those  organs  by  which  alone  the 
kno^^  ledge  of  tl\e  fact  can  reach  our  intellectual 
powers.  The  mode  of  such  a  state  of  being,  and 
the  faculties  by  v.  hich  alone  it  can  be  ipprehended, 
are  therefore,  in  all  probability,  as  remote  from  our 
present  state  and  our  preseni  faculties,  as  these  are 
from  the  m  de  of  life,  and  the  comj.a-ehtnsion  of  an 
embryo  in  the  womb. 

In  all  cases  the  existence  of  the  percipient  faculty 
is  necessary  to  the  comprehension  of  the  objects 
\\  hich  ?ie  adapted  to  it ;  we  may  therefore  justly  in- 
fer, that  all  our  attempts  to  comprehend  those  reaU 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  281 

ities  which  lie  beyond  the  grave,  must  be  vague  and 
unsatisfactory  j  until  the  realities  themselves  shall 
burst  upon  us,  with  an  evidence  (like  that  of  light  or 
sound)  which  is  irresistible. 

We  may,  however,  have  a  sufficiency  of  evidence 
to  ascertain  the  fact;  though  the  way  in  which  it 
shall  be  accomplished  should  remain  unknown. 
This  is  no  more  than  what  we  experience  in  the  pre- 
sent life.  We  know  the  existence  of  many  facts, 
though  the  manner  in  which  they  exist  is  hidden 
from  our  researches.  In  like  manner,  we  may  be 
certified  of  tho  resurrection  of  our,  bodies  from  the 
grave  ;  though  the  way  in  which  it  shall  be  accom- 
plished remain  perfectly  concealed. 

The  evidences  of  these  two  ideas  are  perfectly 
distinct  in  their  natures.  The  former  we  gather 
from  strong  intimations,  and  express  declarations 
given  us  by  God ;  but  the  latter  we  can  only  learn 
from  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  causes  and  ef- 
fects ; — ^the  influence  and  secret  operation  of  active 
and  passive  energies,  which  we  can  but  imperfectly 
trace  in  those  things  which  are  natural,  and  with 
which  we  are  encircled  on  every  side.  Of  the  for- 
mer of  these  ideas  we  have  continual  proof;  but  of 
the  latter  we  rarely  obtain  ajiy  satisfactory  informa- 
tion. 

The  probability  of  a  resurrection  is  much  greater 
than  the  probability  of  its  not  taking  place  ;  and  it 
is  our  duty  to  close  with  that  side  "  where  one  grain 
would  turn  the  scale.'*  Even  they  with  whom  it  is 
thought  a  thing  incredible,  that  God  shoidd  raise 
the  deadf  can  only  found  their  assertions  on  the  de- 

Rr 


363       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Ch»p.  Vt 

lusive  appearance  of  the  body  in  a  state  of  death, 
and  their  own  ability  to  comprehend  the  fact.  The 
speculations,  into  which  I  have  entered,  have  already 
anticipated  the  arguments  which  might  be  drawn 
from  these  sources  ;  facts  of  a  more  unpropitious 
appearance  have  teemed  with  favourable  realities, 
and  presented  us  with  life  and  energy  from  a  chaotic 
mass.  A  subject  of  this  nature  must  always  be 
encumbered  with  difficulties  ;  to  devest  it  of  them  is. 
totally  impossible ;  it  is  therefoi'e  an  unalterable  dic- 
tate of  reason,  in  such  cases,  to  close  with  that  side 
where  fewest  difficulties  are. 

In  this  gloomy  region  of  probable  conjecture,  we 
cannot  hope  for  evidence  of  a  much  brighter  nature 
than  that  which  God  has  afforded  us.  The  twilight 
of  our  situation  affords  nothing  totally  devested  of 
shadows;  and  we  violate  the  principles  of  order, 
whenever  we  aim  at  evidence  which  is  foreign  to 
our  state. 

An  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  internal  con- 
stitution of  substances,  whether  simple,  modified,  or 
organized  ;  is  what  we  cannot  hope  to  attain  in  the 
present  life.  It  is  for  us  to  know  the  facts,  with 
which  we  are  encircled,  and  the  effects  which  result 
from  any  peculiar  organization;  but  an  intimate 
acquaintance  with  the  causes  which  combine  to  pro- 
duce these  effects,  together  with  the  internal  consti- 
tution of  organized  beings,  amounts  to  a  mode  of 
knowledge  which  may  be  possessed  by  higher  orders 
of  intelligent  beings,  with  as  much  precision  as  wc 
now  know  the  facts  themselves,  and  those  effects 
which  result  from  tliem.     And,  it  is  not  improbable 


^t.  v.]        '  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  2»S 

that  the  period  will  arrive,  when  human  nature,  after 
having  passed  through  the  necessary  preparations,  will 
be  capable  of  comprehending  with  equal  precision, 
those  astonishing  events  which  wfe  now  attempt  with 
so  much  difficulty  to  explore. 


SECT.  V. 

Arguments  to  prove  that  Gravitation  trmst  he 
inapplicable  to  our  future  Bodies  in  another 
World;  and  that  the  Loss  of  Gravitation  will 
make  a  considerable  Distinction  between  these 
Bodies  which  we  now  havCj  and  those  which  shall 
be  hereaftei'. 

That  gravitation,  whatever  its  nature  may  be,  is 
inseparable  from  all  portions  of  matter  through 
the  whole  empire  of  nature,  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted, it  would  be  foolish  to  prove,  and  useless 
to  deny.  It  is  from  this  circumstance,  that  gravi- 
tation has  been  included  by  some,  among  the  essen- 
tial properties  of  matter.  Our  local  observations 
give  sanction  to  the  supposition,  and  in  those  cases 
which  submit  themselves  to  the  evidences  of  our 
senses,  it  is  domonstrated  by  fact.  But  whether 
gravitation  is  really  inseparable  from  material  sub- 
stances, or  whether  it  does  not  depend  upon  the 
local  circumstances  of  time  and  place;  are  ques- 
tions of  considerable  import,  which  will  issue  in 
consequences  totally  distinct  from  one  another. 
In  our  present  abode,  the  detached  particles  of 


284       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

matter  gravitate  towards  the  centre  of  the  earth ; 
and  the  earth  with  its  appendages  gravitates  to- 
wards the  sun.  By  the  same  mode  of  reasoning,  we 
have  satisfactory  evidence,  that  all  the  orbs  which 
compose  the  solar  system  feel  a  proportional  im- 
pression :  even  if  we  take  into  the  account  the  ec- 
centricities of  the  comets,  which  seem  to  be  the  mo.'^t 
•  erratic  of  all  the  heavenly  bodies  with  which  we  are 
acquainted. 

But,  though  the  various  bodies  of  the  solar  sys- 
tem thus  gravitate  towards  their  common  centre : 
it  will  not  follow  that  the  whole  system,  when  taken 
in  an  aggregate  point  of  view,  gravitates  towards 
any  other  system  in  the  universe.  It  will  indeed 
admit  of  much  probable  evidence,  that  no  such  gra- 
vitation either  does  or  can  exist.  For,  if  gravita- 
tion can  exist  in  the  solar  system,  towards  any  other 
system  whatever,  it  will  be  impossible  to  assign 
any  satisfactory  reason  why  the  branches  of  different 
systems  continue  apart  from  one  another ;  and  to 
say  what  has  prevented  that  contact  which  necessa- 
rily results  from  the  action  of  gravitating  bodies. 

That  the  worlds,  which  God  has  fixed  in  the  im- 
mensity of  space,  are  infinite  in  their  extent,  I  be- 
lieve no  man  will  afiirm ;  the  exterior  systems  can 
therefore  have  nothing  to  prevent  them  falling  im- 
mediately upon  those  which  are  most  contiguous. 
The  second,  after  having  overcome  the  first,  must 
act  in  the  same  manner  towards  its  neighbouring 
system,  till  that  also  sinks  in  ruin ;  and  thus  de- 
iStruction  must  press  upon  destruction,  till  those 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  285 

worlds  which  now  adhere  to  dieir  respective  systems, 
are  reduced  to  a  state  of  confusion,  and  blended 
together  in  one  chaotic  mass. 

The  existence  of  the  various  systems  with  which 
we  are  surrounded,  and  of  which  we  make  a  part, 
proves  that  no  such  effects  have  taken  place ;  and 
hence  we  may  rationally  presume  that  no  such  ex- 
tent ®f  gravitation  does  exist.  And,  since  the  gene- 
ral convulsion  of  the  universe  would  inevitably  en- 
sue, if  such  an  operative  power  were  to  pervade 
the  great  inane  ;  the  order  which  subsists  throughout 
the  universe  indubitably  proves,  that  no  such  pro- 
perty as  gravitation  can  diffuse  its  influence  through 
universal  nature ,  nor  probably  reach  beyond  the 
different  systems  to  which  its  influence  is  confined. 

From  these  principles,  it  is  fairly  to  be  inferred, 
that  although  gravitation  is  so  closely  interwoven 
with  the  whole  system  of  matter,  in  all  the  forms 
into  which  it  has  been  modified,  as  to  be  naturally 
inseparable  from  its  minutest  parts,  yet,  that  it  is 
confined  in  its  operative  influence.  And  that,  as  it 
is  local  and  circumscribed  in  its  action,  it  cannot,  in 
the  strictest  and  m.ost  philosophical  sense  of  the  word, 
be  an  essential  property  of  mutter. 

There  are  many  instances  with  which  we  are  ac- 
quainted, in  which  gravitation  may  be  lessened  in 
its  influence,  suspended  in  its  power,  and  partially 
destroyed;  while  the  matter  itself  in  which  it  in- 
heres, retains  all  its  essential  properties,  and  under- 
goes no  real  change.  Gravitation,  therefore,  can  only 
be  an  affection  of  matter,  existing  only  in  relation 
to  time  and  situation  ;  but  by  no  means  an  essential 


28^       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

property  of  that  substance,  in  which  it  is  presumed 
to  inhere.  If,  therefore,  the  influence  of  gravitation 
be  not  infinite,  which  I  presume  will  be  admitted ; 
it  follows,  that  if  God  were  so  pleased,  he  may 
place  a  portion  of  matter  in  some  portion  of  the  re- 
gions of  space,  in  which  it  shall  be  perfectly  removed 
from  tlie  influence  of  gravitation,  and  from  that  of 
those  external  impulses  wliich  now  act  upon  it  with 
so  much  energy  and  force. 

In  those  regions,  which  our  future  bodies  are  des- 
tined to  inhabit,  the  force  of  gravitation  may  so  far 
be  forbidden  to  act  upon  them,  either  through  pure 
distance  or  the  partiality  of  their  nature  ;  that  the 
impulse  of  the  will,  finding  nothing  to  obstruct  its 
mandates,  may  act  with  a  degree  of  eflicacy  to  which 
we  are  strangers,  and  be  productive  of  those  effects 
which  at  present  can  only  result  from  muscular  ex- 
ertion. 

That  all  spiritual  substances  must  be  placed  be- 
yond the  influence  of  gravitation,  through  the  nature 
of  their  existence,  will  hardly  admit  of  any  doubt ; 
because  gravitation,  from  its  very  nature,  seems  only 
t^pplicable  to  those  which  are  material.  And,  with- 
out adverting  to  the  question,  whether  those  ethe- 
rial  veliicles,  through  which  they  communicate 
their  ideas  to  one  another,  be  composed  of  some- 
thing which  is  analogous  to  matter  or  not ;  it  seems 
an  unquestionable  point,  that  our  conceptions  of 
their  being  totally  destitute  of  gravitation,  form  a 
striking  circumstance  in  our  notions  of  their  spiri- 
tuality. While,  on  the  conti-ary,  those  substances 
which  are  visible  to  our  senses,  having  a  certain  dc- 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  287 

gree  df  specific  gravity,  incorporated  in  their  na- 
tures, mark  out  for  us  a  clear  distinction  between 
themselves  and  those  substances  which  we  denomi- 
nate spiritual. 

The  human  body,  having  this  power  of  gravita^ 
tion  in  its  present  state,  in  common  with  all  sublu- 
nary beings  and  things  ;    may,  with  much  propriety- 
be  said  to  be  natural,  in  opposition  to  those  ethe- 
rial   vehicles,  which   from   their  being  destitute  of 
gravitation,  jcce.   denominated  spiritual.     But,   the 
changes  which  these  material  bodies  shall  undergo 
at  death,  will  probably  separate  them  from  the  in- 
fluence of  this  principle  hereafter.     And,  their  being 
devested  of  this  quality,  which  we  have  already  sup- 
posed, is  not  an  essential  property  of  matter  ;   will 
give  to  them  that  mode  of  being,  at  which  St.  Paul 
hints,  when  he  tells  us,  there  is  a  spiritual  body. 
For,  when  all  gravitating  tendencies  shall  be  with- 
drawn from  that  portion  of  matter,  which  shall  con- 
stitute our  bodies  hereafter ;  they  must  assimilate  in 
nature  with  those  spiritual  substances,  on  which  the 
affection  of  gravity  had  never  been  impressed.     By 
this  assimilation  of  nature  to  spiritual  substances,  and 
this  loss  of  one  of  those  present  essential  qualities 
by  which  we  distinguish  matter  from  spirit,  and  one 
portion  of  matter  from  another ;  we  arrive  at  a  solu- 
tion of  that  complex  assertion  which  St.  Paul  has 
made — There  is  a  natural  body  and  there  is  a  spiritu- 
al body. 

The  matter,  of  which  our  future  bodies  shall  be 
composed,  will,  withovU;  all  doubt,  continue  to  retain 
all  those  properties  which  are  in  reality  essential  to 


285       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRrXTION  [Chap.  VL 

its  nature  ;  and  Mull  lose  nothing  in  point  of  nature, 
but  this  ideal  property  and  those  sensible  qualities, 
which  local  existence  had  incorporated  with  its  be- 
ing in  the  present  state.  To  announce  the  nature 
of  our  bodies,  thus  circumstanced,  and  thus  situated 
in  a  future  state,  perhaps  no  expression  could  be 
found  more  appropriate  within  the  compass  of  lan- 
guage, than  that  which  St.  Paul  had  happily  select- 
ed, when  he  called  the  companion  of  our  soul,  a 
spiritual  body.  We  have,  therefore,  every  reason 
to  expect  that  those  bodies  which  we  shall  possess 
hereafter,  will  partake  in  common  with  all  other 
matter,  the  essential  properties  of  that  substance  ; 
while  they  will  be  devested  of  that  ponderosity 
which  must  inevitably  retard  motion,  and  which  as- 
sociate with  our  bodies  in  all  the  functions  of  the 
present  life. 

What  the  physical  nature  of  gravitation  is,  we  do 
not  with  precision  know;  but  of  this  we  are  fully 
assured,  that  it  is  an  inherent  property  of  matter, 
through  which  all  material  bodies  are  disposed  to 
approach  each  other,  and  their  respective  centres. 

In  the  present  state  of  things,  the  centre  of  gravi- 
tation to  us,  is  the  centre  of  the  globe  which  we  in- 
habit ;  but  certain  it  is,  that  this  centre  of  gravita- 
tion can  continue  no  longer  than  the  globe  itself  re- 
mains in  existence.  As,  therefore,  gravitation  can 
only  have  a  relative  existence ;  the  destruction  of 
the  globe  must  prove  the  destruction  of  gravitation, 
or  at  least  cause  it  to  adhere  to  another  centre,  of 
which  we  can  form  but  inad|^uate  conceptions. 

That  this  world,  and  all  the  solar  system  had  a 


Sect  v.]  QF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  289 

beginning,  will  not  admit  of  any  doubt ;  and  that  it 
will  finally  be  destroyed  by  fire,  is  a  fact,  of  which 
we  are  fully  assured  by  the  unerring  word  of  God. 
When,  therefore,  that  awful  period  shall  arrive, 
when  the  earth  shall  be  encircled  with  fire,  when  the 
sun  shall  be  darkened,  and  the  moon  shall  not 
give  her  light ;  our  centre  of  gravitation  must  ne- 
cessarily be  destroyed.  The  disordered  particles 
of  matter,  which  shall  survive  this  general  wreck  of 
nature,  being  then  bereft  of  that  common  centre,  to 
which  they  had  been  accustomed  to  adhere,  must  in- 
stantly lose  their  gravitating  power,  and  be  devested 
of  all  external  impulse  by  an  inevitable  consequence. 
And,  therefore,  as  all  matter  must  in  itself  be  totally 
indifferent  to  motion  and  rest,  whether  we  con- 
sider it  as  modified  into  a  human  body,  or  as-  as- 
suming any  other  form  ;  by  being  thus  disencum- 
bered from  impediments,  it  must  act  under  the  im- 
mediate impulse  of  the  first  power  which  commu- 
nicates its  force.  Under  these  circumstances,  the 
impulse  of  the  will,  without  doubt,  will  be  sufiicient 
to  produce  every  effect  which  we  can  possibly  as- 
cribe to  our  future  bodies,  when  they  shall  be  raised 
in  a  state  of  incorruption,  and  when  death,  the  last 
enemy  of  human  nature,  shall  be  for  ever  destroyed. 
We  are  furnished  in  the  present  life  with  proofs 
of  the  most  indubitable  nature,  that  the  impulses  of 
our  wills  ai'e  constantly  modifying  our  muscular  ac- 
tions. But,  by  what  secret  energy  these  effects  are 
wrought  "^vhich  we  constantly  discover,  we  know 
not ;   and  perhaps  shall  never  be  able  to  compre- 

Ss 


290       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap!  VI 

hcnd.  We  cannot  therefore,  reasonably  expect  to 
know,  in  our  present  state  of  existence,  how 
our  spirits  shall  operate  with  redoubled  energy  and 
vigour  upon  those  refined  bodies  which  we  hope  to 
have  hereafter;  when  they  shall  be  removed  from 
those  impediments  which  are  now  inseparable  from 
our  existence.  That  the  fact  itself  is  possible,  we 
are  fully  assured  from  the  evidence  which  we  have 
of  similar  actions  in  the  present  life.  This  evidence 
must  silence  all  objections,  which  we  might  be  in- 
clined to  raise  against  our  future  expectations  and 
hopes  from  our  inability  to  comprehend  the  facts 
which  are  now  in  existence,  and  which,  we  are  sa- 
tisfied, ^v'ill  then  take  place.  The  increase  of  the 
operation  of  spirit  upon  matter,  it  is  reasonable  to 
expect,  will  be  great  in  proportion  to  the  energy  of 
the  mover  ;  and  this  energy  will  increase  in  pro- 
portion to  the  removal  of  those  impediments,  wliich 
now  retard  the  nction  of  the  soul. 

But,  howeVer  powerful  in  its  operation  upon  the 
body,  the  soul  may  be  in  our  present  state  ;  we  well 
know,  that  the  power  of  gravitation,  residing  in  the 
matter  of  which  our  bodies  are  composed,  is  too 
strong  to  be  totally  overcome.  By  the  impulse  of 
tny  will,  I  can  move  either  my  hand  or  tongue  ;  but 
it  is  not  in  my  power,  by  any  exertion  which  I  can 
make  to  take  my  body  from  tlie  earth,  and  to  sus- 
pend it  in  the  air;  much  less  is  it  in  my  power  to 
take  my  flight  into  another  region,  or  to  move  from 
sphere  to  sphere,  to  converse  with  beings,  which 
:»re  totally  imkno^vn. 
Jiidccd,  exciy  action  which  wc  perform,  is  a  par- 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  291 

9 

tial  conquest  of  gravitation.  This  plainly  proves^ 
that  there  resides  within  us  an  innate  power,  whiclt 
must  be  distinct  in  its  nature  from  that  gravitation, 
wliich  it  partially  subdues.  And,  therefore,  when 
gravitation  shall  be  totally  separated  from  that 
matter,  of  which  our  future  bodies  shall  be  compo- 
sed, which  must  be  when  the  general  conflagration 
shall  consume  the  world,  (and  perhaps  the  whole 
solar  system  in  one  devouring  blaze)  while  the  mat- 
ter itself  will  preserve  its  existence  entire  in  all  its 
essential  parts  and  properties  ;  then  this  innate  power 
will  be  free  to  operate  without  control,  because  all 
-obstacles  shall  be  totally  done  aAvay. 

When,  therefore,  those  obstacles  which  now  re- 
tard the  power  of  our  active  energies  shall  be 'with- 
drawn, when  all  our  energies  shall  acquire  new  vi- 
gour, we  are  at  a  loss  to  calculate  upon  those  sur- 
prising effects  which  must  ensue.  We  are  called, 
in  this  view,  to  move  in  a  new  sphere  of  action.  It 
baffles  all  our  calculations,  and  leaves  the  mind  to 
operate  upon  the  evidence  of  probability ;  which 
evidence  becomes  rational  from  the  removal  of  ob- 
stacles, and  from  the  visible  eftects  which  analogical 
jreasoning  now  supplies. 

The  impulses,  which  our  future  bodies  will  re- 
ceive from  the  actions  of  our  spirits,  will  probably 
be  sufficient  to  transport  them  through  any  dis- 
tances of  space  with  inconceivable  celerity  ;  and  to 
lead  them  in  conjunction  with  themselves,  to  the 
full  gratification  oT  all  those  desires,  which  can  in- 
herit heaven.      In  our  present  st^ite,  the  cause  of 


2*2       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

potion  must  reside  within  us.  Without  this,  nei- 
ther  vice  nor  virture  can  have  any  existence ;  be- 
cause they  necessarily  imply  the  power  of  begin- 
ning motion.  And  it  is  more  than  probable,  that 
this  cause,  which  is  now  the  origin  of  motion,  is 
lodged  within  those  parts  of  our  bodies,  which  are 
necessary  to  their  identity  ;  which  parts  will  remain 
incorruptible  in  their  torpid  state,  and  be  our  com- 
panions in  eternity. 

In  our  present  situation,  the  power  of  gravitation 
is  not  all  that  our  spirits  have  to  combat.  The  de- 
ranged state  of  the  whole  material  system  ;  the  ob- 
structed paths  of  organization ;  the  pressure  of 
the  atmosphere  ;  the  unwieldy  masses  of  flesh  and 
blood;  together  with  the  impediments  which  we 
sustain  from  a  multiplicity  of  causes ;  all,  no  doubt, 
conspire  to  debase  our  nature ;  and  to  place  us  in 
perfections,  to  which  nothing  but  death  can  re- 
lease us,  and  to  place  us  at  a  distance  from  those 
perfections,  to  which  nothing  but  a  resurrection  can 
possibly  restore  us.  We,  therefore,  now  see  only  as 
through  a  glass  darkly,  but  hereafter,  the  righteous 
shall  know  even  as  they  are  known  ;  and  feel  their 
enjoyment  of  felicity,  which  can  only  be  acquired  in 
an  eternal  state. 

The  astonishing  changes,  which  these  circum- 
stances must  make  in  the  relative  situation  of  our 
bodies,  together  with  the  alterations  which  must 
follow  from  the  changes  in  our  condition  of  being, 
as  well  as  in  the  new  modifications  which  our  bo- 
dies shall  undergo ;   must  be  capable  of  effecting 


Sect.  V.j  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY. .  293 

almost  every  change,  except  that  of  altering  the  es- 
sential properties  of  human  nature.  And,  even 
these  essential  properties  which  ?iow  belong  to  our 
bodies  will  be  so  far  refined  by  the  changes  which 
shall  pass  upon  them,  that  matter  shall  approxi- 
mate towards  spirit  as  nearly  as  possible,  without 
losing  its  essence,  or  becoming  what  it  is  impossible 
that  it  can  be. 

But,  were  we  even  to  admit  the  facts  for  which  I 
contend,  as  well  as  the  arguments  which  have  been, 
and  which  will  be  adduced:  it  will  be  folly  to 
deny  that  there  are  difficulties  still  remaining,  Vv^hich 
it  is  impossible  to  solve.  Yet  difficulties  can  no 
more  Jhrove  an  hypothesis  erroneous,  than  objec- 
tions against  a  fact  can  falsify  its  nature.  We  know 
not,  I  am  ready  to  admit,  how  matter  can  exist  ab- 
stracted from  all  gravitation ;  but  we  ought  to  re- 
collect, that  we  are  equally  at  a  loss  to  know 
how  matter  can  exist  with  it.  One  is  no  more 
difficult  to  comprehend  than  the  other ;  the  fact  is, 
that  we  can  comprehend  neither.  That  matter 
does  exist  with  it,  is  self-evident ;  and  that  it  may 
exist  when  gravitation  shall  be  done  away,  if  God 
shall  be  so  pleased,  will  admit  of  no  doubt  whatever 
in  a  reflecting  mind. 

In  the  present  state  of  human  nature,  God 
has  pleased  to  make  our  subsistence  to  depend 
upon  food  and  air ;  but  beyond  the  grave,  we  have 
no  reason  whatever  to  believe,  that  either  will  be 
necessary  to  our  being.  It  is  true,  that  we  cannot 
conceive,  how  our  future  bodies  will  be  able  t© 


294        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

subsist  without  these  external  supplies  ;  but  it  is 
equally  true,  that  we  know  not  how  they  can  pos- 
sibly subsist  with  them.  No  reasonable  doubt  can 
be  entertained,  that  God  might  have  established  our 
constitutions  otherwise,  had  he  been  so  pleased; 
and  have  rendered  food  and  respiration  alike  unne- 
cessary to  the  support  of  our  lives.  It  is  true,  we 
should  in  that  case  have  been  different  from  what 
we  are ;  we  should  then  have  been,  what  in  all 
probability  we  shall  be  hereafter,  and  what  we  shall 
continue  forever. 

But,  though  God  has  thus  constituted  our  na- 
tures ;  he  has  not  included  these  appendages  of  ex- 
istence in  existence  itself.  They  are  circumstances, 
which  the  author  of  our  being  might  have  dispensed 
with,  had  he  betii  so  pleased ;  though,  perhaps  they 
are  essentially  necessary  to  our  present  state,  when 
we  view  it  in  all  its  circumstances.  And  hence  we 
may  reasonably  conclude,  that  when  the  present 
modification  shall  be  unhinged,  and  all  nature  shall 
undergo  a  change ;  then  those  appendages  of  being 
which  are  now  necessary  to  the  preservation  of  life, 
shall  also  be  for  ever  done  away;  since  they  can 
exist  no  longer  than  that  mode  of  being  does,  to 
which  they  are  now  so  essentially  necessary,  and 
beyond  M'hich  their  uses  can  no  longer  survive. 
When,  therefore,  that  era  shall  arrive,  in  which 
neither  food  nor  breath  shall  be  any  longer  necessary 
to  the  existence  of  man,  we  must  behold  human 
nature  undergoing  such  a  change  as  will  admit  no 
parallel ;  and  \vhich  cai)  be  equalled  by  nothing  biit 
itself. 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  29S 

The  same  observations  which  have  already  been 
made,  on  the  loss  of  gravitation,  and  on  the  possi- 
bility of  subsisting  hereafter  without  the  assistance 
of  food  and  breath ;  may  also  be  made  on  the  in- 
ternal changes  which  our  bodies  must  undergo. 
The  uses  of  food  and  air  being  dispensed  with,  the 
lungs  and  intestines  must  become  unnecessar)^ ; 
though,  it  must  be  acknowledged,  that  we  have  no 
clear  conception  how  we  can  subsist  without  them. 
But  here,  the  same  observations  will  occur.  Nei- 
ther can  we  conceive  how  our  bodies  can  subsist 
with  them.  Perpetuity  of  existence  is  no  more  in- 
cluded in  the  admission  of  intestines  and  lungs,  than 
it  is  in  the  exclusion  of  them ;  and  there  is  really 
nothing  less  miraculous  in  the  one  case  than  in  the 
other.  These  mediums  and  appendages  of  life  can 
fill  no  other  stations  than  those  of  vehicles.  And 
the  same  power  which  acted  through  their  instru- 
mentality, can  act  without  their  aid.  The  King  of 
eternity  who  now  deals  out  life  unto  us  by  particles, 
and  makes  use  of  these  mediums,  through  which  he 
communicates  it,  will  probably  infuse  into  the  sys- 
tem of  animated  matter  a  species  of  vigour,  which 
shall  be  inexhaustible,  and  which  therefore  shall 
supply  the  body  for  ever. 

How  animated  matter,  though  united  to  an  im- 
material spirit,  can  live,  either  ivith  or  without 
food  ; — how  our  bodies  can  live,  either  with  or  with- 
out breath j-.-wf^/^  or  without  the  lungs  and  intes- 
tines, and  be  for  ever  exempted  from  putrefaction ; 
is  impossible  for  us  to  know.  Neither  can  we  pe- 
remptorily decide  how  we  shall  be  able  to  recognize 


256      IDEJ^TITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap,  VL 

our  departed  friends  in  another  life,  after  such 
changes  have  passed  upon  us  as  will  destroy  the  in- 
testines and  abolish  sexual  distinctions.  Some  line, 
aments  will  undoubtedly  be  preserved,  amidst  the 
general  change,  by  wliich  forgotten  friendships  will 
be  revived  ;  and  these  will  probably  be  through  the 
distention  of  those  radical  principles  which  consti- 
tute our  identity  now,  and  which  will  constitute  the 
identity  of  our  bodies  hereafter.  But  the  exact  way 
in  which  this  shall  be  accomplished,  when  our  bodies 
shall  be  fashioned  like  unto  the  glorious  body  of 
Jesus  Christ,  accord'mg  to  the  mighty  working, 
ivherehy  he  is  able  to  subdue  all  thi?igs  unto  himself, 
are  questions  which  we  cannot  answer  on  this  side  of 
an  eternal  state. 

But,  these  questions  contain  in  them  no  other  dif- 
ficulties, than  would  have  been  contained  in  the 
most  simple  facts  which  occur  in  the  present  life ; 
had  they  been  proposed  to  intelligent  beings  like 
ourselves,  before  creation  actually  took  place.  If 
a  declaration  had  been  made,  prior  to  creation, 
among  the  inhabitants  of  heaven,  that  God  was 
about  to  call  into  existence  a  race  of  beings,  whose 
subsistence  was  to  be  made  dependent  upon  their 
respiration  of  an  ambient  fluid,  of  which  they  could 
liave  formed  no  conception ;  and  that  they  were  to 
drinv  nutrition  from  a  species  of  matter,  which  to 
them  was  alike  unknown,  in  order  to  preserve  that 
life  \vhich  God  was  about  to  impart ;  we  cannot 
doubt  but  that  their  reasoning  powers  would  have 
been  exercised  in  a  manner  not  unlike  that"  in 
which  our  own  are,  on  the  present  occasion.     Like 


Sect,  v.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  29f 

Nicodemus  and  ourselves,  they  might  have  in- 
quired, Hoxv  can  tliese  things  be  ?  they  might  have 
credited  the  declaration,  without  having  any  know- 
ledge of  the  means  whereby  the  fact  was  to  be  re- 
ahzed.  But,  whether  they  could  have  formed  any 
probable  conception  of  the  fact,  or  whether  they 
must  have  concluded  that  such  an  event  would  be 
repugnant  to  the  principles  of  all  analogy  ;  of  this 
we  are  fully  assured,  that  the  event  has  taken  place. 
And  we  have  no  more  reason  to  doubt  of  the  resur- 
rection hereafter,  than  they  would  have  had  to 
doubt  of  creation,  before  tlie  great  event  actually 
took  place. 

Indeed  scepticism,  on  their  part,  would  admit  of 
an  apology,  while  on  ours,  it  will  merit  nothing  but 
reproof.  Between  their  case  and  ours,  there  is 
this  difference ;  They  had  to  contemplate  a  new 
modification  of  existence,  which  wt  now  actually 
possess ;  and  we  have  only  to  contemplate  a  change 
in  it,  which  will  take  place  hereafter ;  while  we 
have  before  us  a  variety  of  changes,  which  are  really 
more  surprising  in  their  consequences,  because  they 
are  more  complex  in  their  nature,  than  those  are 
which  we  look  for  beyond  the  grave.  They  had  to 
form  conceptions  of  existence  itself,  as  well  as  the 
modification  of  it,  where  there  was  neither  existence 
nor  modification  of  it ;  while  we  have  only  to  con^ 
ceive  a  continuance  of  that  existence,  which  already 
is.  Of  our  present  manner  of  existence  they  could, 
have  had  no  conception,  not  even  by  analogy  ; 
while  we,  by  forming  to  ourselves  some  distant  con- 

Tt 


i?S98     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION     [Chap.  VI. 

ceptions  of  the  existence  of  angelic  natures,  behold 
our  future  state  already  given ;  and  the  only  ques- 
tion that  can  remain  is,  How  far  we  have  any  right 
to  expect  possession  of  it  ?  they  had  to  contem- 
plate powers  and  faculties,  as  well  as  the  mode  of 
being  whidi  did  not  then  exist ;  but  we  have  only  to 
contemplate  a  change  of  condition,  and  a  change  in 
our  mode  of  being  ;  a  mode  of  being  which  is  al- 
ready possessed  in  a  considerable  part  by  those 
higher  orders  of  intelligent  beings,  on  whose  nature 
God  has  already  stamped  the  indelible  signature  of 
immortality,  and  from  whom  the  analogy  is  now 
drawn.  Under  these  circumstances,  whether  \vc 
or  they  have  the  greatest  difficulties  to  encounter, 
requires  not  much  ingenuity  to  decide.  The  con- 
clusion from  the  preceding  comparisons  is,  therefore, 
fair,  that  angelic  natures  must  have  had  more  ob- 
stacles to  stagger  their  belief  in  creation,  than  we 
have  now  to  surmount,  in  believing  the  resurrection 
of  the  body  from  the  grave. 

Were  it  now  proposed  to  us  for  our  belief,  that 
God  was  about  to  create  another  race  of  intelligent 
beings,  as  rertiote  from  men  and  angels  as  they  are 
from  one  another  ;  and  as  remote  from  all  other  or- 
ders of  animal  and  intellectual  life  ;  we  should  feel, 
I  presume,  considerable  reluctance  in  gi^  ing  it  our 
assent.  We  might  credit  the  declaration  upon  the 
score  of  authority,  yet,  the  event  proposed  would 
make  little  impression.  But,  in  crediting  the  re- 
surrection, the  difficulties  are  not  so  great.  Con- 
descension has  marked  the    footsteps  of  God  to- 


Sect,  v.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  299 

ward  us,  in  all  his  dealings  with  us ;    he  knowetJi 
our  frame^  he  remembereth  that  rue  are  but  dust. 

On  the  great  subject  before  us,  we  have  an  ex* 
press  declaration  from  God,  that  he  will  raise  the 
dead.  We  have  many  strong  intimations  from  na- 
ture, which  guarantee  the  declaration,  and  corrobo- 
rate the  truth.  The  only  objection  which  can  be 
advanced  is,  that  we  cannot  comprehend  the  fact. 

But  this  objection  must  vanish  into  empty  air. 
The  power  by  which  the  great  event  is  to  be  ac- 
complished, is  presumed  to  be  omnipotent;  and 
this  can  accomplish  all  things  which  do  not  involve 
contradiction ;  and  with  this,  the  doctrine  of  the 
resurrection  cannot  be  charged.  The  mode  of  be- 
ing which  we  expect  to  attain  is  already  in  exist- 
ence ;  and  the  changes  through  which  we  must 
move,  in  order  to  the  attainment  of  that  state,  are 
not  considerably  greater  than  those  which  we  have 
already  passed.  The  production  of  grain  affords 
us  an  emblem  of  the  process  ;  and  the  torpor,  into 
which  many  animal  substances  sink,  and  from 
which  they  again  revive,  and  the  marvellous  changes 
which  many  of  them  undergo,  are  convincing  proofs 
that  nature  is  progressive  ;  and  that  she  delights  in 
revolutions  through  all  her  works. 

In  the  movements  of  vegetable  substances,  the 
action  is  quick  ;  and  we  survey  the  speedy  progress 
in  all  its  parts.  But  in  the  grand  evolutions,  which 
are  necessary  to  produce  the  body  that  shall  be, 
we  can  only  behold  a  minute  part.  The  work 
moves  onward  by  slow  and  imperceptible  degrees ; 
it  pervades  the  whole  progress  of  time,  and  points 


300       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

out  its  completion  in  eternity.  We  see  in  the  pre- 
sent life  all  that  can  be  discovered  according  to 
our  most  rational  views  of  the  great  event ;  and  to 
expect  more  is  to  act  an  unwarrantable  part.  No 
circumstance  has  yet  taken  place^  from  the  creation 
to  the  present  hour,  which  has  given  an  air  of  delu- 
sion to  our  hopes.  In  point  of  rational  evidence 
we  stand  on  the  same  ground  with  our  predeces- 
sors ;  the  only  difference  is,  that  we  are  a  few  stages 
nearer  to  the  grand  result.  Our  posterity  will  be 
one  stage  nearer  than  ourselves ;  thus  generation 
shall  succeed  to  generation,  till  the  awful  period  ar- 
rives, w^hen  "the  swarm  shall  issue,  and  the  hive 
shall  burn." 

If,  therefore,  w^e  lose  sight  of  the  authority  of 
the  Bible  for  a  moment,  and  examine  with  an  im- 
partial mind,  the  evidence  in  favour  of  the  resur- 
rection, which  God  has  otherwise  afforded  us ;  and 
compare  that  evidence  with  those  objections  which 
can  be  brought  against  the  fact,  the  scale  will  pre- 
ponderate in  favour  of  the  event.  And,  though 
the  evidence  may  be  considered  as  arising  from  j&ro- 
bability  and  analogy  only ;  yet  it  should  not  be 
forgotten,  that  all  objections  with  which  the  fact  can 
be  assailed,  originate  in  the  avowed  weakness  of  the 
understanding,  and  are  founded  upon  nothing  more 
than  an  viability  to  comprehend.  Admitting, 
therefore,  that  the  evidence  is  only  of  a  probable 
Ar-A  analogical  nature ;  yet  these  faint  intimations 
of  nature,  when  collected  from  their  various  chan- 
nels, and  imited  together,  form  no  inconsiderable 
siream.      They   arc    superior   to   those   objections 


Sect.  VI.j        OP  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  301 

which  can  be  raised  against  them ;  and  that  mind 
must  act  under  the  dominion  of  prejudice,  which 
will  not  yield  assent  to  an  important  fact,  which  is  so 
well  supported; 


SECT.  VL 

Arguments  to  prove  that  though  our  future  Bodies 
must  be  formed  of  Parts,  the  Peculiarity  of  the 
Situation  will  place  them  beyond  the  reach  of  Dis- 
solution. Refections  on  our  present  and  future 
Condition. 

When  we  turn  our  thoughts  from  the  nature  of 
those  bodies  which  we  now  have,  to  that  of  those 
which  we  shall  possess  hereafter  ;  we  enter  a  re- 
gion in  which  popular  prejudices  are  calculated  to 
delude  us,  on  which  account  they  must  be  laid 
aside.  To  investigate  with  accuracy,  the  mind 
must  be  devested  of  those  local  influences,  which 
can  only  be  applicable  to  the  present  state  ;  it  must 
not  lose  sight  of  that  region  which  it  is  attempting 
to  explore,  nor  associate  with  human  nature,  be- 
yond the  grave,  those  circumstances  of  being, 
v/hich  are  only  appropriate  to  its  condition  in  the 
present  life. 

In  those  pages,  jhrough  which  we  have  lately 
passed,  we  have  considered  the  influence  of  gravi- 
tation as  peculiar  to  our  situation  of  being  ;  but  by 
no  means  incorporated  with  being  itself,  so  as  to 
enter  into  the  constitution  of  its  nature.     On  these 


302     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION    [Chap.  VI. 

grounds,  we  have  presumed  that  the  influence  of 
gravity  cannot  be  infinite  in  its  extent ;  and  there- 
fore we  rest  assured  that  material  being  may  con- 
tinue when  gravitation  shall  be  destroyed  ;  or,  that 
it  may  exist  in  a  distant  region,  where  the  influence 
of  gravity  cannot  reach. 

In  one  of  these  situations,  we  have  presumed 
that  our  future  residence  will  be  assigned  us ;  and, 
that  under  those  circumstances  which  must  arise 
from  that  mode  of  existence,  our  bodies  will  be 
light,  active,  and  volatile,  capable  of  being  .trans- 
ported from  region  to  region,  without  feeling  any 
obstructing  medium,  through  which  the  velocity  of 
tlieir  progress  might  be  imparted.  We  have  also 
presumed,  that  the  actions  of  the  soul  will  be  of 
sufficient  energy  to  put  the  body  in  motion,  with 
a  degree  of  vigour  which  shall  be  infinitely  superior 
to  that  with  which  our  bodies  are  now  impelled 
to  action ;  so  that  the  impulses  of  the  soul  will  su- 
perse(jle  the  necessity  of  muscular   exertion. 

These  grounds  being  admitted,  the  real  quantity 
of  matter,  of  which  our  bodies  shall  be  composed, 
can  have  no  influence  upon  the  final  result.  Where 
all  power  of  resistance  is  removed,  masses  of  all 
dimensions  must  submit  to  action.  The  inertness 
of  matter  must  give  way  to  the  smallest  impulse ; 
and  action  must  be  the  necessary  result.  Whether, 
therefore,  our  future  bodies  shall  be  composed  of 
those  radical  principles,  which  now  constitute  their 
respective  identities,  without  the  admission  of  any 
other  additional  particles  ;  or,  whether  ^ve  suppose 
that  a  vast  number  of  otliers  shall  incorporate  with 


Sect.  VI J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  SOS 

those  radical  parts  ;  the  principles  themselves,  upon 
which  we  have  proceeded,  cannot  be  effected  by 
the  decision.  The  impelling  energy,  by  vihich  alone 
action  can  be  preduced,  must  operate  alike  where 
all  resistance  is  actually  removed ; — and  all.  matter 
in  such  a  situation  must  be  in  a  passive  state. 

But,  there  is  another  question  of  considerable 
importance,  which  remains  to  be  discussed.  Whe- 
ther the  bodies,  which  we  shall  have  hereafter, 
contain  many  particles  or  only  a  comparatively  few ; 
certain  it  is,  that  they  will  be  material.  If  they 
are  material,  they  must  be  formed  of  parts ;  and 
if  formed  of  parts,  which  are  separable  in  their 
natures,  on  what  ground  have  we  any  just  reason 
to  expect  that  they  will  adhere  together  for  ever  ? 

It  has  been  said  in  an  early  stage  of  this  work, 
that  all  bodies  which  are  formed  of  parts,  include 
within  themselves  a  natural  tendency  to  dissolution. 
That  the  particles  which  have  been  taken  from  a 
different  element-  to  compose  distinct  bodies,  are 
only  detained  in  their  new  departments  by  an  ad- 
hesive power ;  but  tlie  instant  that  the  adhesive 
power  ceases  to  operate,  these  particles,  being  dis- 
charged from  their  confinement,  naturally  repair 
to  their  elementary  abodes.  These  principles, 
while  they  apply  to  all  material  objects,  must  ne- 
cessarily be  applicable  to  the  body  of  man.  They 
were  applicable  to  the  human  body,  when  God 
called  it  into  being  ;  and  have  acted  upon  it  through 
every  stage  which  human  nature  has  hitherto  passed. 
It  is  on  this  accOlint,  death  has  passed  upon  all 


304      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION   [Chap.  VI. 

men,  and  reduced  the  visible  parts  of  those  who 
have  departed  this  life,  to  a  state  of  corruption, 
and  finally  caused  the  dissolving  parts  to  mingle 
with  the  dust. 

It  v/as  to  counteract  this  natural  tendency,  in 
the  primeval  condition  of  man,  that  God  intro- 
duced the  tree  of  life.  The  salubrious  efficacy  of 
the  fruit,  which  the  introduction  of  that  tree  im- 
parted, seemed  to  be  designed  by  God  as  a  pre- 
servative of  human  vigour.  And,  it  is  more  than 
probable  that,  if  moral  evil  had  never  entered  into 
the  world,  the  fruit  of  this  tree  would  have  coun- 
teracted that  tendency  to  dissolution,  Avhich  seems 
inseparable  from  all  compounded  bodies  ;  and  would 
have  lengthened  out  human  life  to  a  protracted 
period;  until  God  should  have  been  pleased  to 
translate  mankind  into  another  abode,  in  which 
probation  should  be  consummated  in  reward. 

But,  when  moYal  evil  entered  into  the  world,  the 
whole  face  of  things  became  reversed.  The  tree 
of  life  was  no  longer  permitted  to  impart  its  effica- 
cy ;  the  influence  of  the  elements  began  immediately 
to  operate  ;  and  the  natural  tendency  to  dissolution, 
which  was  included  in  the  human  body,  finally 
terminated  in  a  total  separation  of  all  its  parts.  It 
is  thus  sin  entered  into  the  world.,  and  death  by 
sin ;  and  thus  death  hath  passed  upon  all  meiiy 
because  all  have  sinned^  and  come  short  of  the  glory 
of  God. 

But,  though  in  all  compounded  bodies  there  is 
a  natural  tendency  to  dissolution ;   we  cannot  sup- 


Sect.  VI.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  30$ 

pose  that  it  can  extend  beyond  the  grave.  Were 
this  the  case,  the  perpetuity  of  the  human  body 
would  stand  on  a  very  precarious  foundation ;  and 
we  could  have  no  reasonable  assurance  that  the 
particles  of  which  it  shall  be  composed,  shall  adhere 
for  ever,  unless  God  were  to  introduce  some  me- 
dium, tlii'ough  which  it  should  be  preserved, 
somewhat  analogous  to  the  tree  of  life.  But,  even 
of  this  we  could  have  but  very  inadequate  concep- 
tions. The  mode  of  being  which  our  bodies  shall 
assume  hereafter,  seems  to  be  of  a  nature  which 
precludes  the  necessity  of  food,  and  of  all  external 
aid.  Their  vigour  will  be  drawn  from  the  fountain 
of  all  perfection,  without  the  necessity  of  tliese  pre- 
carious supplies ;  and  they  will  be  placed  in  a 
region  where  these  tendencies  shall  be  unknown. 

The  natural  tendencies  to  dissolution,  which  are 
incorporated  in  all  compounded  bodies,  are  most 
probably  derived  both  from  external  and  internal 
causes  in  the  present  life.  Attracted,  and  impel- 
led, influenced  by  the  atmosphere,  and  constantly 
acted  upon  by  the  power  of  gravitation  ;  the  gross 
materials  which  compose  our  bodies,  can  find  no 
rest  till  they  are  resolved  into  their  pristine  ele- 
ments, and  adhere  to  those  common  centres  to 
which  they  invariably  tend.  The  various  forms,  in 
which  they  are  assailed,  must  conspire  to  dislodge 
them  from  the  stations  which  they  occupy  in  our 
bodies,  and  to  reduce  them  to  that  state  in  \yhich 
they  were,  before  the  formation  of  man. 

U  u 


306      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

As  all  matter  is  perfectly  indifferent  to  motion 
and  rest,  we  can  have  no  reason  to  imagine  that 
any  change  whatever  would  pass  upon  the  body, 
even  in  the  present  state,  if  all  external  impulses, 
and  all  internal  tendencies  were  totally  removed. 
A  particle,  which  is  placed  beyond  the  reach  of 
influence  and  tendency,  must  necessarily  preserve 
its  station,  whatever  that  station  may  be.  We  can 
have  no  more  reason  to  suppose  that  it  will  remove 
to-morrow,  than  we  had  that  it  would  move  to-day  ; 
and  the  same  reasons  will  hold  good  next  week, 
next  month,  next  year,  and  so  on  for  ever.  If 
one  particle  could  not  remove  from  that  station, 
neither  could  another  under  the  same  circumstances; 
and  that  for  the  same  reason.  And  those  reasons 
which  will  account  for  the  establishment  of  two 
particles,  will  account  for  all  those  which  compose 
our  bodies,  and  clearly  place  them,  even  in  the 
present  life,  beyond  the  influence  of  putrefaction 
and  change.  And,  as  these  consequences  are 
undeniable,  admitting  the  principles  upon  which 
they  are  founded  ;  it  plainly  follows,  that  those  ten- 
dencies, which  are  lodged  within  the  parts,  of 
which  our  bodies  are  composed,  as  well  as  the 
various  influences  which  they  feel,  are  not  essential 
to  compounded  bodies,  though  inseparable  from 
them  in  the  present  state. 

When  we  look  into  that  world  which  ^ve  hope 
to  inherit  beyond  the  grave,  we  behold  a  condition 
of  being  similar  to  that  which  we  have  just  supposed. 
It  is  a  region,  in  which  neither  atmosphere  nor  gra 


SettVL]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  3or 

vitation  can  act  upon  our  bodies  ;  and  in  which 
every  tendency  to  dissolution  shall  be  perfectly  un- 
known. 

In  what  form  our  bodies  may  be  constituted,  or 
by  what  secret  cement  the  particles  of  which  they 
may  be  composed,  shall  be  united,  are  points  into 
which  we  do  not  now  inquire.  But,  even  admit- 
ting the  cement  to  be  no  other  than  that  which 
unites  our  parts  in  the  present  life,  we  can  have  no 
conception  that  they  can  possibly  dissolve.  Though 
tlie  parts  are  material,  they  can  have  no  tendency 
to  remove  from  those  stations  which  they  occupy  ; 
because  the  earth,  which  is  their  centre  of  gravita- 
tion, shall  be  destroyed.  Ascent  and  descent  are 
terms,  which  ii*  that  region  must  lose  all  distinct- 
tions ;  and  not  a  single  atom  will  discover  a  ten- 
dency to  remove  from  that  station  which  it  sustains. 

Even  the  cardinal  points,  by  which  we  now 
measure  out  into  distinct  portions  both  heaven  and 
earth,  will  probably  be  totally  unknown ;  and  we 
shall  feel  ourselves  as  unable  to  measure  directions, 
when  these  points  are  destroyed,  as  we  shall  to 
measure  the  succession  of  duration,  when  time 
shall  be  no  more.  Every  particle  must  hang  upon 
its  own  centre,  and  find  itself  as  much  at  home 
as  those  are  which  now  adhere  to  the  centre  of  our 
globe.  The  situation  of  those  particles  must  be 
much  the  same,  in  these  relations,  as  that  of  an 
intelligent  man  would  be  if  the  globe  on  which  he 
stands  were  annihilated  in  an  instant  beneath  his 
feet,  and  he  were  left  floating  in  the  abyss  of  space. 


Has       IDENTITY  ANt)  RESURTIECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

The  relative  ideas  of  high  and  lorn,  up  and  cfoif/i, 
in  such  a  situation,  must  necessarily  be  destroyed. 
The  influence  of  attraction  and  gravity  might  re- 
main in  the  ease  which  we  have  supposed  ;  and  he, 
who  was  left  floating  in  the  desolated  abyss  of  space 
might  be  put  in  motion  by  those  distant  bodies 
which  exerted  their  powers ;  but,  even  from  these 
distant  influences,  the  atoms  of  our  future  bodies 
must  necessarily  be  exempted;  and,  being  once 
fixed  in  their  stations,  they  must  retain  their  abodes 
for  ever. 

On  these  grounds,  the  perpetuity  of  our  bodies, 
though  they  will  be  material,  can  be  rationally  ac- 
counted for  ;  and  we  see  them  fixed  upon  a  perma- 
nent foundation,  notwithstanding  they  are  of  a 
compounded  nature,  and  though  all  compounded 
bodies  have  within  them  a  natural  tendency  to  dis- 
solution. The  evidence,  through  which  we  may  be 
assured  of  their  perpetual  duration,  leaves  no  more 
doubt  upon  the  mind  of  the  certainty  of  the  fact, 
than  the  liiind  can  have  of  the  durability  of  that 
matter  of  which  they  are  composed. 

In  many  cases,  it  is  a  peculiar  characteristic  of 
truth  that  it  is  of  an  illustrative  nature.  Facts 
sometimes  associate  together  ;  and  it  not  unfrequent- 
ly  happens,  that  the  establishment  of  one  feet  places 
it  in  a  situation  to  corroborate  another.  It  is  pecu- 
liar  to  those  facts  which  we  have  been  contempla- 
ting, that  they  occupy  both  stations ;  while  they 
render  themselves  conspicuous  by  the  light  which 
they  impart. 


Sect.  VI.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  309 

The  removal  of  our  bodies  from  these  abodes  is 
associated  with  a  change  of  condition,  and  a  change 
in  the  modification  of  our  material  parts.  These 
branches  are  inseparable  from  one  another,  and  are 
so  closely  interwoven,  that  it  is  scarcely  possible  for 
us  to  conceive  either  detached  from  its  connexions. 
In  point  of  evidence  they  afford  to  each  other  mu- 
tual support ;  the  first  leads  immediately  to  the  se- 
cond, and  the  second  involves  the  third  by  an  inevi- 
table consequence.  Uniformity  is  visible  in  the 
midst  of  astonishment.  Our  mind  may  retire  from 
the  survey  of  a  scene  so  awful ;  but,  we  must  ac- 
knowledge ^consistency,  even  though  we  withhold 
belief. 

These  associating  truths  immediately  lead  to 
others,  which  are  equally  important  and  interesting 
with  themselves.  They  diffuse  light  over  those  re- 
gions, through  which  we  have  already  travelled  5 
they  raise  conjecture  into  probability,  and  give  to 
probability  all  that  circumstantial  evidence  'which 
is  neeessary  to  the  establishment  of  moral  truth. 

A  body  which  can  continue  in  existence,  without 
the  assistance  of  those  external  supplies  wliich  are 
essentially  necessary  to  our  existence  in  this  sublu- 
nary abode,  can  have  no  uses  for  those  organs  and 
faculties  v/hich  are  peculiar  to  our  present  state. 
From  this  circumstance  arises  the  inference,  that 
what  can  be  only  applicable  to  the  present  state, 
can  have  no  place  whatever  in  the  next.  New  or- 
gans will  most  probably  supply  the  place  of  those 
which  shall  be  destroyed ;   but,  without  doubt  their 


310      IDENTITY  AND  RESUlfRECTlON  [Chap.  VI. 

construction  will  be  exactly  appropriate  to  the  sta- 
tion which  thxy  shall  fill.  Even  the  constitution  of 
our  bodies  will  be  formed  anew ;  and  joints  and 
muscles  will  in  all  probability  be  done  away. 
■  Of  this  truth  we  are  fully  assured,  that  Jiesh  and 
blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God,  neither 
doth  corruption  inherit  incorruption.  Such  chan- 
ges must,  therefore,  take  place,  as  will  entirely  un- 
hinge those  parts  which  we  denominate  Jlesh  and 
blood;  while  the  radical  materials  will  bepreserv'ed  ; 
so  that  in  point  of  identity  our  bodies  will  be  still 
the  same,  though  moulded  and  fashioned  like  unto 
tlie  glorious  body  of  Jesus  Christ. 

Though  the  aids  of  nutrition  are  absolutely  neces- 
sary to  our  present  state  of  being ;  yet  perhaps  wc 
are  not  obliged  to  admit  that  every  pai't  of  the  body 
is  indebted  to  this  external  support.  The  parts 
which  constitute  the  identity  of  our  bodies  appear 
rather  to  remain  unchanged.  The  pai'ticles  which 
compose  those  parts,  seem  fixed  in  their  stations. 
They  cannot  give  place  to  others  ;  nor  can  they  re- 
tire from  that  rank  which  they  sustain.  No  acqui- 
sition of  new  atoms  can  possibly  be  made  ;  because 
this  would  be  to  enlarge  the  identity  of  the  body, 
and  would  involve  a  contradiction.  In  either  of 
the  cases  which  have  been  supposed,  we  must  ad- 
mit a  transfer  of  identity,  which  is  absolutely  impos- 
sible ;  and  this  impossibility  of  consequence  decides 
imperiously  against  the  admission  of  those  princi. 
pics  which  would  involve  such  contradictory  issues. 
As  then>  no  pn-ticle  can  be  cither  acquired  or  lost. 


Sect.  VI.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  SI  I 

or  exchange  its  station  with  another  that  is  foreign ; 
it  seems  unreasonable  to  suppose  that  the  radical 
parts  of  our  bodies,  in  which  I  have  presumed  their 
identity  consists,  can  receive  any  external  supplies 
from  that  nutrition  which  is  necessary  to  our  lives. 
These  radical  parts  are,  in  all  probability,  emblem- 
atical, in  their  manner  of  existence,  of  that  which  our 
future  bodies  shall  possess,  when  time  shall  be  lost 
in  eternity.  We  behold  in  miniature  that  mode  of 
life,  which  our  bodies  shall  sustain  hereafter ;  and, 
though  it  is  a  mode  of  existence  which  we  cannot 
comprehend,  it  only  serves,  in  conjunction  with 
other  truths,  to  point  out  unto  us  the  limitation  of 
our  faculties,  when  we  turn  them  to  investigate  the 
wonderful  works  of  God. 

The  preservation  of  these  portions  of  our  bodies, 
in  a  situation  where  all  other  compounded  bodies 
are  verging  to  decay,  can  only  be  ascribed  to  the 
infinite  power,  and  unsearchable  wisdom  of  Him,  in 
whom  we  live^  and  move^  and  have  our  being.  At 
best,  in  this  life  we  see  but  through  a  glass  darkly  ; 
and  have  but  inadequate  conceptions  of  those  scenes 
which  we  contemplate.  The  shadows  of  mortality 
hover  round  us,  and  conceal  those  realities  which 
lie  beyond  the  grave.  A  few  scattered  rays  of  light 
disseminate  their  lustre  through  the  gloom,  suffi- 
ciently luminous  to  convince  us,  that  we  are  not  pur- 
suing phantoms,  when  we  look  beyond  the  grave. 

Our  organs  of  vision,  as  well  as  our  mental  povr- 
crs,  seem  best  adapted  to  the  station  which  we  now 
occupy ;  but,  even  to  an  accurate  investigation  of 


S12       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

the  things  of  time,  we  feel  ourselves  totally  incom- 
petent. The  influence  of  moi^al  evil,  whithout  doubt, 
lias  darkened  up  the  avenues  of  the  soul,  and  pre- 
vented our  mental  powers  from  penetrating  those 
oceans  of  knowledge  ^vhich  lie  in  rich  reversion  be- 
yond the  grave.  The  rays  of  light,  which  irradiate 
this  Jield  of  bloody  and  of  darkness  which  we  inha- 
bit, ai'e  convincing  proofs  of  that  height  from  whence 
we  have  fallen !  while  they  serve  to  sliew  us  the 
glory  which  we  have  lost.  The  present  condition 
of  creation  is  an  evidence  of  our  disgrace  :  even  the 
earth,  which  trembles  beneath  our  feet,  while  it  gives 
seed  to  the  sower,  and  bread  to  the  eater,  is  evi- 
dently labouring  under  a  curse  for  the  sake  of  man. 
Our  mental  powers  feel  the  fatal  disorder ;  they  eXf 
hibit  to  ourselves  a  strange  variety  of  imbecility  and 
power ;  we  appear  to  ourselves  "  majestic  tliough  in 
ruins." 

When  we  turn  to  our  bodies,  the  mournful  pic- 
ture requires  no  colouring.  Our  decorations  arc 
but  badges  of  our  shame.  Our  noblest  triumphs 
are  of  short  duration;  "the  paths  of  glory  lead 
but  to  the  grave."  Our  continuance,  in  the  midst 
of  all  that  which  the  body  can  enjoy,  is  but  momen- 
tary ;  even  "  eiuth's  liighest  station  ends  in  here  he 
lies,  and  dust  to  dust  concludes  our  noblest  song." 
The  swift  approach  of  death  casts  a  damp  upon  our 
most  sanguine  expectations  ;  the  tombs  of  our  de- 
parted kindred  and  neighbours  seem  to  tell  us,  that 
our  breath  is  corrupt,  our  days  are  extinct,  and 
the  grave   is  ready  for  iis.     The   shattered   frag- 


Scrct.  VI.J         O?  THE  MUlVlAN  BOt>Y.  si 3 

ments  of  those,  who  havt  stepped  into  eternity  before 
us,  exhibit  nothing  but  a  scene  of  disgust  and  degra:- 
datioh ;  white  they  beckoit  us  to  the  totnb  to  heighteh 
the  disgrace.  '  ! 

With  these  prospect^  before  lis,  arid  these  •  alone, 
humah  life  is  little  more  than  a  scenfe  of  liiisery^ 
encircled  6n  every  side  with  occasions  of  despair. 
But,  the  light  of  the  gospel  softens  the  horrors  of 
the  scene,  and  j^oints  out  to  a  guilty  world  the 
efficacy  of  that  blood  which  was  shed  on  Calvary, 
to  make  an  expiatien  fdt  siii.  Through  this  blood, 
life  arid  immortality  have  again  revisited  thesfc 
abodes  ;'  and  taught  us'  to  look  beyond  the  confines 
of  the  grave  for  a  scene  of  felicity  that  can  never 
end.  Through  this  blood  of  sprinkling  the  natural 
effects  of  -siri  are  <^unteracted  ;  and  salvation  from 
the  moral  consequences  Of  that  fatal  malady  is  freely 
offered  to  tlie  sons  of  men* 

Through  the  efficacy  of  the  atonement,  we  ex- 
pect a  renewal  of  OUf  tnMenal,  our  moral,  and  m* 
tetlecfmi  nature.  The  renewal  of  our  moral  na* 
ture  we  expect  in  time,  and  wait  till  the  day  of  eter- 
nity for  the  accomplishment  of  tlie  rest.  The  pros- 
pects Which  are  afforded  us,  of  that  glory  which 
God  has  reserved  in  store  f6r  them  that  love  him, 
are  sufficiently  revealed  to  animate  our  hopes  ;  but 
at  the  same  time  they  are  so  veiled  in  shadows,  that 
a  consumniation  is  not  to  be  expected  till  we  entef 
ittto  another  world. 

In  that  important  sei^,  when  the  final  renovation 
of  all  nature  shall  take  place ;  when  our  intellectual 
powers  shall  be  restored  to  the  full  possession  of 

Ww 


314      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

their  pristine  vigour ;  and  shall  be  delivered  from 
those  impediments  which  now  emban*ass  and  ob- 
struct their  movements  ;  we  shall  be  able  with  the 
utmost  ease  to  solve  those  difficulties,  which  we 
cannot  at  present  surmount.  The  action  of  our 
spirit  upon  our  future  body,  together  with  the  ef- 
fects resulting-  from  that  incomprehensible  energy, 
will  probably  be  laid  open  before  us  without  an  in- 
tervening shade.  Familiarized  to  scenes  of  asto- 
nishment, which  will  move  onward  in  an  endless 
succession,  our  intellectual  powers  must  be  expanded 
beyond  our  present  conception  ;  they  Mill  probably 
move  forward  for  ever  in  progressive  knowledge, 
perpetually  discovering  new  wonders  in  God,  and 
perpetually  observing  new  regions  wliich  have  been 
unexplored.  The  capacities  of  the  soul  are  like  its 
essence,  incomprehensible  and  immortal. 

Our  material  parts,  renewed  widi  immortalit}', 
shall  suit  their  immaterial  partners,  and  afford  such 
assistance  through  the  medium  of  the  senses,  as 
shall  rather  facilitate  than  retard  our  active  pursuits. 
The  inexhaustible  vigour  which  our  bodies  shall  ac- 
quire, will,  without  doubt,  add  considerably  to  their 
agility;  and,  in  conjunction  with  other  causes,  es- 
tablish that  mode  of  being  which  can  only  be  com- 
prehended fully  beyond  the  grave. 

But,  what  felicities  soe\'er  human  nature  may 
enjoy  hereafter,  all  must  be  ascribed  to  the  redemp- 
tion of  Jesus  Christ.  It  is  through  him  alone,  that 
we  are  ransomed  from  the  claims  of  justice,  and 
snatched  from  the  dominion  of  death.  It  is  through 
him  that  this  last  enemy  sluill  be  destroyed,  m  hen  he 


Sect.  VII.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  315 

hath  put  down  all  rule  and  all  authority  and  pow- 
er ;  to  him,  therefore,  be  given  glor}'^,  and  honour, 
and  might,  and  majesty,  and  dominion,  for  ever  and 
ever. 


SECT.  VII. 

On  the  Origin  of  bodily  Identity.  Arguments  to 
prove^  That  the  Identity  of  the  Body  can  have 
no  Existence  prior  to  the  formal  Existence  of 
the  Body.  That  Abortions  are  perfectly  re- 
concileable  xvith  the  Theory  which  has  been  ad- 
vanced. 

On  a  subject  which  is  so  complex  in  its  nature,  and 
so  important  in  its  consequences,  as  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  human  body,  it  is  less  astonishing  that 
difficulties  should  occur  in  the  investigation,  than  if 
none  were  raised.  Many  are  trifling  and  insignifi- 
cant ;  many  will  admit  of  satisfactory  solutions, 
upon  the  principles  before  us.  Some  of  each  kind 
have  been  alretdy  considered  j  and  some  of  each 
description  5^et  remain. 

But,  while  I  attempt  to  refute  some  of  these  ob- 
jections, which  are  brought  against  the  suppositions 
which  have  been  made  on  the  identity  of  man,  I 
would  by  no  means  insinuate  that  all  objections  arc 
to  be  considered  as  visionary  and  chimerical.  I 
am  conscious  of  many  difficulties  which  it  is  not  in 
my  power  to  solve.      Perhaps,  no  argumeat  can 


316       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

perfectly  rescue  an  abstruse  subject  of  this  nature 
from  the  various  cavils  to  which  it  must  necessarily 
he  exposed.  Nothing  less  than  demonstration  can 
accoiuplish  this ;  but,  this  is  a  species  of  evidence 
which  the  subject  before  us  does  not  afford.  Even 
demonstration  may  be  exposed  to  cavil,  but  cavil 
can  never  invalidate  its  testimony ;  it  may  attack 
those  branches  to  which  the  evidence  docs  not 
apply,  but  cannot  overturn  that  proof  which  it  was 
designed  to  oppose. 

Evidence,  in  many  cases,  may  be  sufficient  to 
substantiate  a  fact,  without  being  r.o  extensive  in  its 
application  as  to  embrace  every  circumstance  which 
is  connected  with  it.  On  this  ground,  objections 
may  be  raised.  In  this  case,  objections  will  indeed 
prove,  that  this  evidence  is  not  sufficiently  extensive 
to  embrace  all  possible  cases ;  but  they  will  not  in- 
validate the  testimony  of  the  evidence  adduced,  nor 
oyen-ule  those  cases  to  which  the  evidence  more  im- 
mediately applies.  The  evidence  may  be  defective, 
without  being  eiToneous ;  it  may  be  contracted  in 
its  application,  without  being  driven  from  those  ob- 
jects and  facts  which  it  professes  to  embrace. 

It  is  in  this  light  that  I  view  the  case  before  us ; 
while  I  admit  sorae  permanent  principle  which  con- 
stitutes-the  identity  of  the  human  body.  The  evi- 
dence by  which  it  is  supported,  may  be  genuine  in 
its  nature  without  being  of  universal  application. 
And,  as  all  truths  are  unifonnly  harmonious  in  their 
natin*e,  and  therefore,  never  can  oppose  one  ano- 
ther ;  such  objections  as  may  be  started  against  the 


Sect.  VII.]  OF  THE  HUMAN   BODY.  Slf 

fact  before,  will  admit  of  satisfactory  solutions,- only 
from  such  principles  as  are  at  present  placed 
within  our  reach.  They  arc,  therefore,  subjects  of 
distinct  consideration,  remote  from  our  present 
views,  and  with  which  the  evidence  before  us  has 
not  any  necessaiy  connection.  The>.ftheory  which 
is  advanced,  may  therefore  be  genuine,  though  all 
objections  cannot  be  fully  answered ;  and,  ail  that 
can  be  justly  inferred  is,  that  the  evidence  embraces  not 
all  possible  cases,  tonvhich  the  objection  attaches; 
while  the  evidence  itself,  as  well  as  the  fact  which  it 
supports,  remains,  notwithstanding  a  train  of  objec- 
tions, unimpeached  and  entire. 

Against  the  theory  which  I  have  adopted  with 
respect  to  the  identity  of  the  human  body,  it  may, 
perhaps,  be  said, — "  that,  if  there  be  a  radical  prin- 
ciple in  man  which  constitutes  the  identity  of  his 
body  here,  and  which  will  become  the  foundatioix 
of  his  body  hereafter ;  and  this  principle  be  impe- 
rishable  and  indissoluble  in  its  nature,  this  supposi- 
tion caniK)t  be  reconciled  with  our  views  of  an  em- 
br}'o  principle  which  is  lodged  in  the  parent,  from 
whom  it  proceeds."  It  may,  furthermore,  be  said, 
"  that,  if  the  embryo  principle  remain  indissoluble, 
the  process  of  nature  cannot  be  necessary  to  mature 
it  to  perfection  ;  and  if  it  be  lost,  it  militates  against 
the  fundamental  principles  of  the  theory  which  is 
here  advanced."  To  these  objections  I  proceed  to 
reply. 

That  a  principle  of  identity  cannot  be  lost,  I 
have  already  admitted  ;   and,   for  the  same  principle 


S!8       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

I  still  contend ;  yet  I  must  be  allowed  to  suppose, 
that  before  these  objections  can  acquire  any  force, 
it  must  b<i  supposed  that  the  principle  of  identity, 
of  which  we  speak,  must  have  a  being.  But  I  am 
far  from  supposing,  that  the  distinct  identity  of  all 
the  individual  bodies  of  the  human  race,  have  been 
coeval  with  the  first  progenitors  of  mankind. 

We  must  be  satisfied  that  no  body  can  exist  with- 
out this  principle  ;    however  we  may  differ  about  its 
manner  of    existence,     and   its  constituent   parts. 
But  it  is  absurd  to  suppose,  that  the  identity  of  the 
human  body  can  exist  before  the  body  itself  is  call- 
ed into  actual  being.     Because,  if  we  could  imagine 
that  those  radical  principles,    which  constitute  the 
identity  of  the  body,   could  exist  prior  to  the  body, 
it  must  be  the  identity  of  a  body  which  has  no  exist- 
ence.    It  must,    in  this  case,    be  the  identity  of  a 
nonentity  ;    for,   that  which  never  had  existence  is  a 
nonentity  ;  it  must  be  the  identity  of  a  human  body, 
and  not  the  identity  of  a  human  body  at  the  same 
time ;    but,   as  this  is  a  palpable  contradiction,   it 
cannot  possibly  be  admitted.     It  will  therefore  fol- 
low,  from  hence,   that  no  principle  of  identity  can 
exist  as  such.,   antecedently  to  the  union  of  those 
immerical  parts,  of  which  the  body  is  composed, 
and  from  which  its  existence  is  always  denomina- 
ted in  popular  language.     And,   as  bodies  have  not 
always  liad  this  formal  existence  ;    so,  neither  could 
this  principle  of  identity,   which  must  be  lodged  in 
^jome  secret  recess  within  its  confines. 

That  the  constituent  parts  of  bodies  ha^'e  exist- 
ed from  the  commencement  of  the  human  race,   I 


SfictVIL]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  3 19 

am  ready  to  allow ;  not  as  actual  parts  of  future 
bodies,  but  as  simple  matter  capable  of  being  modi- 
fied, by  infinite  skill,  and  of  being  moulded  into 
such  forms,  by  unerring  wisdom,  through  such  fu- 
ture combinations,  as  our  bodies  now  have.  In  a 
similar  manner,  those  parts  which  constitute  the 
identity  of  our  bodies,  must  have  had  their  pre-exist- 
ent  state ;  not  in  their  official  character,  as  the 
identity  of  any  body  whatever,  but  as  simple  mat- 
ter, capable  of  being  thus  constituted  by  the  power 
of  Almighty  God. 

Hence  then,  it  evidently  appears,  that  though  a 
principle  of  identity  which  is  once  in  being,  cannot 
be  lost,  we  may  conceive  without  difficulty  that 
we  are  under  no  necessity  of  supposing  that  this 
gerin  must  have  been  from  eternity.  We  may 
without  any  impropriety  admit  the  preclusion  of  an 
end,  without  supposing  the  being  or  thing  to  have 
been  from  eternity  ;  because,  the  admission  of  a  be- 
ginning, and  the  preclusion  of  an  end. will  by  no 
means  .  involve  a  contradiction.  No  one  can  ques- 
tion that  the  Almighty  God  can  give  beginning  and 
preclude  an  end  ; — such  a  mode  of  action  is  a  fair 
inference  of  power.  That  God  has  acted  thus,  •  is 
evidently  deducible  from  all  that  he  has  communi- 
cated to  us  concerning  the  nature  of  angels,  and  the 
souls  of  men ;  and,  perhaps,  of  all  spiritual  sub- 
stances which  we  can  conceive,  and  which  have  any 
real  existence.  And  although  we  admit  tliis  to  be  the 
case,  with  regai'd  to  this  principle  of  identity  which 
I  have  here  supposed,  it  is  no  more  incumbent  on 
me  to  delineate  that  mode  of  existence,  than  it  is  for 


320      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Cliap.  VI. 

any  other  to  account  for  the  manner  in  whiCfe-spiii- 
tual  substances  exist,  to  whom  we  attribute  a  simi- 
lar mode  of  being. 

That  the  elementary  principles,  of  which  our 
bodies  arc  composed,  were  lodged  in  our  pro^rfi- 
tors,  is  a  fact  too  obvious  to  require  afty- proof. 
And  since  time  is  progressive  in  all  its  tr»o^^ementS^, 
we  cannot  avoid  concluding  that  the  seitiinal  parts 
of  the  human  body  must  appear  in  I'arious  stages 
of  progressive  advancement,  verging  towards  a 
mode  of  maturity  which  can  only  be  consummated 
m  another  stage.  In  any  of  -these  intermediate 
stages,  should  an  accident  happen  to  the  progenitor, 
those  seminal  parts  not  having  acquired  a  state  oi" 
maturity  sufficient  to  constitute  a  distinct  bodily 
identity,  must  dissolve  again  into  the  pristine  ele- 
ments of  matter,  and  mingle  with  the  common  rruiss. 

What  that  stage  of  progression  is  in  which  this 
degree  of  maturity  is  acquired,  which  distingliishes 
being  from  unorganized  matter,  is  a  point  \i'^hich 
seems  too  minute  for  the  mind  to  investisrate.  The 
lines  of  demarkation,  which  divide  the  identity  of 
the  body  from  the  common  mass,  are  too  attenua- 
ted for  human  discernment ;  they  are  buried  m  ob- 
scurity, and  their  precise  situation  is  not  placed 
x^dthin  the  reach  of  man  to  detennine.  Satisfied  I 
am,  that  such  a  point  must  ha\e  an  cxktencc  sdmc^ 
where  in  the  primeval  progress  of  the  human  body  ; 
but,  it  is  a  point  of  progression,  which,  perhaps,  is 
known  only  to  God. 

i.   It  is  sufficient  to  satisfy  my  inquiries,   tliat  I  can 
fix  two  points  at  no  coiisidemblc  distance  from  each 


Sect.  VII.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  321 

other ;  in  one  of  which  I  am  satisfied,  that  nothing 
can  exist  huX  unorganized  matter^;  and  in  the  other, 
that  the  identity  of  the  body  has  a  being.  If,  there- 
fore, I  know  that  notliing  but  unorganized  mat- 
ter exists  in  January y  but  that  this  matter  has 
been  transformed  ititd  a  conditicni  of  "being,  .which 
constitutes  the  identity  of  the  body,  before  the  en- 
suing December ;  I  feel  myself  perfectly  at  rest, 
though  I  know  not  with  any  precision,  at  what  point 
formal  entity  began.  Previously  to  this  important 
point,  nothing  but  potential  energy  and  seminal  matter 
.  can  be  said  to  exist ;  but  these  cannot  constitute  for- 
mal being.  The  death  of  the  progenitor  must  ne- 
cessarily annihilate  that  potential  energy  which  I 
have  supposed ;  and  consequently,  the  seminal 
matter  which  was  in  existence  must  retire  to  the 
inactive  mass.  No  foi'mal  being  can  in  this  case  be 
supposed  in  existence,  and  consequently,  no  prin- 
ciple of  bodily  identity  can  be  lost. 

If  we  admit  those  principles  which  have  been  laid 
down  in  the  preceding  paragraphs,  it  will  not  be 
difficult  to  account  for  those  consequences  which  re- 
sult from  abortio7is  in  their  various  stages.  The  diffi- 
culties which  Q\\  these  occasions  associate  with  the 
supposition,  which  makes  the  identity  of  the  body 
to  consist  in  some  radical  principle,  will  be  less  for- 
midable than  if  \\»e  were  to  suppose  that  the  identity 
of  the  body  were  to  consist  in  all  the  numerical  par- 
ticles of  which  the  body  is  at  any  given  time  com- 
posed. In  both  cases,  difficulties  may  be  involved 
:  X  X 


322       IDENTirr  AND  TiESURliECTlON  [Chap.  VI. 

which  we  shall  find  inexpliaable ;  but,  in  admitting 
that  those  radical  principles  of  matter  constitute  the 
identity  of  the  body,  in  the  manner  which  has  been 
supposed^  I  can  perceive  no  consequences  which 
will  ensue,  that  appear  either  contradictcwy  or  ab- 
surd. 

It  may,  perhaps,  b«  asked,  when  an  abortion  takes 
place,  "  whether  or  not  the  abortive  mass  includes 
within  it  those  principles  of  body  \vhich  ghall  rise 
again  ?'*  On  this  question  it  is  diflScult  to  determine 
with  precision ;  but,  the  principles  which  have  been 
advanced  lead  us  to  a  solution  of  those  difficulties 
which  the  question  seems  to  suppose.  The  affii-m- 
ative  or  negative,  which  may  be  given  to  this  ques- 
tion, will  entirely  depend  upon  the  state  of  progres- 
sion of  the  abortive  mass.  It  may  mclude  within 
it  a  principle  of  identity,  or  it  may  not.  I  have  said 
in  a  preceding  paragraph  that  a  certain  point  must 
exist  somewhere,  w-hich  is  perhaps  known  only  to 
God;  and  at  this  point  entity  of  body  begins.  If, 
therefore,  the  abortive  mass  had  passed  this  point  be- 
fore tlie  event  took  place,  no  doubt  can  be  rationally 
entertained  that  this  principle  of  bodily  identity  had 
beeii  communicated:  it  must  tlierefore  retain  its 
incorruptibility,  xmd  again  be  raised  into  immortal 
-life.  But,  if  on  tlie  contrary,  that  point  which  I 
iiave  supposed  the  criterion  of  {personal  existence, 
had  not  been  passed,  then  all  must  sink  again  into 
-the  common  mass,  and  mingle  with  those  atoms 
which  never  made  any  approaches  to^vards  animal 
life. 


Sect.  VII.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  325 

It  is,  perhaps,  at  this  important  point  which  I 
have  supposed,  that  the  immaterial  spirit  begins  it^ 
union  with  the  body,  and  forms  its  connexion  with 
those  parts  in  which  the  identity  of  the  body  i$ 
lodged.  The  same  reasonings,  therefore,  which 
have  been  employed  about  the  commencement  of 
the  body  will  also  apply  to  the  commencement  of 
the  man.  The  compound  of  human  nature  must, 
probably,  date  its  origin  from  this  important  point ; 
from  which  two  distinct  natures  shall  begin  a  life 
which  shall  never  end. 

I  have  presumed  to  conjecture,  that  it  is  to  this 
principle  of  identity  that  the  soul  is  more  imme- 
diately united  5  but  certain  it  is,  that  no  union  can 
possibly  take  place  before  the  body  has  obtained  an 
existence.  And  it  is  equally  certain,  that  no  distinct 
existence  can  be  supposed  in  the  embryo  body,  till 
it  has  acquired  a  distinct  identity,  by  which  alone 
it  can  be  known ;  and  this  distinct  existence  cannot 
be  acquired,  until  the  materials  have  arrived  at 
a  certain  stage  of  progression,  in  their  approaches 
towards  maturity  and  perfection. 

But,  these  are  points  which  belong  to  God :  It 
is  for  man  to  conjecture,  but  for  God  to  appoint  and 
comprehend.  They  are  points  which  our  intellec- 
tual powers  are  not  acute  enough  to  discern ;  and 
they  are  wrapped  up  in  shades  which  we  cannot 
penetrate.  The  utmost  of  our  researches  rise  but 
little  higher  than  probable  conjecture  ;  but  on  points 
which  are  so  abstmse,  it  is  the  highest  evidence 


324      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

which  we  can  hope  to  attain.  And,  while  this  e\  i- 
dence  is  heavier  in  the  scale  of  probability,  thair 
those  objections  are,  which  are  set  against  it,  we 
must  abandon  our  reason  if  we  •permit  such  objec- 
tions to  operate  in  all  their  force.  The  solution  of 
such  difficulties  must  disarm  objections  of  their 
power,  even  though  the  solution  should  be  errone- 
ous. It  will  convince  us  that  what  we  have  sup- 
posed probable,  may  be  certain  ;  because  it  involves 
nothing  that  is  either  contradictoiy  or  absurd. 

From  the  reasonings  which  have  been  adduced 
in  the  present  section,  I  am  well  aware  that  an  ob- 
jection of  another  nature  may  be  advanced.  As  I 
have  presumed  that  no  existence  can  be  attributed 
to  those  parts  which  constitute  the  identity  of  our 
bodies,  until  our  bodies  obtain  a  formal  existence : 
it  will  be  natural  for  the  reader  to  inquire,  "how  the 
sentiments  of  this  section  can  be  reconciled  with 
those  of  another,  in  which  I  have  said  that  those 
embryos  which  slumber  longest  in  their  sires,  win 
require  less  time  to  ripen  in  the  grave  ?"  To  this 
question  I  answer,  that  though  the  embryo,  as  such, 
has  not  any  formal  existence,  until  the  materials  of 
the  body  have  arrived  at  a  certain  stage  in  their  i:)ro- 
gressive  movements ;  yet  the  elements  out  of  which 
this  embrvo  is  afterward  called  into  formal  beinjr, 
must  have  existed  from  the  origin  of  man.  And, 
perhaps  the  secret  process  which  these  materials  have 
undergone  in  their  elementary  state,  may  have 
tended  toivards  their  maturity  through  every  stage 
which  they  have  passed ;  and  by  these  means  they 


5ect.  VII.J        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  32i 

become  more  capable  of  that  completion  which  they 
shall  assume  when  the  bodies  of  the  departed  shall 
awake  to  perpetual  life. 

If  a  certain  portion  of  dui'ation  were  to  be  allot- 
ted for  the  ripening  of  any  given  principle,  and  the 
maturing  of  jit  to  any  given  degree  of  perfection; 
nothing  more  could  be  required,  than  that  the  per- 
fection should  be  attained  within  the  Unfits  which  had 
been  prescribed  ;  if  they  actually  appeared  within  the 
period  of  prescription,  no  room  for  any  real  objec- 
tion could  remain.  The  only  objection  which  could 
be  started  must  be  confined  wholly  to  the  circum- 
stances of  the  process,  'vvhile  the  essential  parts  of 
the  question,'  on  which  alone  an  objection  of  any 
weight  could  be  rationally  founded,  could  have  no 
interest  whatever  in  the  charge.  Objections,  there- 
fore, which  are  established  upon  this  foundation,  can 
no  longer  be  objections  against  the  fact  itself,  but 
against  some  circumstances  of  it,  with  which  the 
fact  can  have  but  little  or  no  connexion. 

The  only  question  which  we  can  feel  ourselves  in- 
terested to  answer  is,  not  in  -{ihat  manner  a  prin- 
ciple of  identity  shall  ripen  into  maturity ;  but 
whether  it  shall  he  produced  ivithin  a  given  portion 
of  duration  ?  Now,  if  within  this  given  portion  of 
duration,  the  event  be  accomplished,  the  end  will 
be  fully  answered,  though  the  modes  of  its  produc- 
tion be  vai-ious.  And,  whetiier  the  matter  which  is 
finally  matured  into  a  principle  of  personal  identitj% 
continued  a  longer  period  in  one  of  its  stages  than  in 
another,  tlie  final  result  \\i\\  be  exactly  the  same  as 


9&S       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VL 

though  the  process  had  been  conducted  with  the 
greatest  exactness  and  uniformity.  On  these  grounds, 
the  sentiments  which  I  have  advanced  in  both  see- 
tiofls  are  perfectly  harmonious ;  and  I  proceed  by  an 
illustration  to  reconcile  them  together. 
-  ;.If  a  period  of  six  thousand  years  were  allotted  for 
the  completion  of  a  given  process,  and  this  period 
were. divided  into  two,  three,  or  four  distinct  stages, 
no  difficulty  can  occur  to  the  mind,  in  conceiving 
that  one  of  these  stages  should  be  much  shorter 
than  another  ;  though  we  admit  that  the  aggregate 
amount  of  time  shall  be  finally  equal.  On  the  same 
ground,  different  processes  may  vary  from  one  ano- 
tlier  in  their  intermediate  stages ;  and  yet  finally 
issue  in  the  necessary  completion,  when  the  whole 
period  shall  ultimately  expire. 

•^.  may  be  a  much  longer  time  m  its  elementary 
condition  than  B.  and  consequently,  will  on  that 
account  require  less  time  to  be  exalted  to  a  state 
of  perfection,  through  the  subsequent  stages  which 
it  has  to  pass.  If  ^.  continue  five  hundred  years 
in  its  elementary  principles,  it  must  have  fi\e  thou- 
sand five  hundred  to  remain  in  its  subsequent  stages, 
in  order  tliat  it  may  be  ripened  for  the  grand  result 
of  all.  But  if  A.  continue  one  thousand  years  in 
its  elementary  state,  only  five  thousand  can  remain 
to  complete  die  whole.  Yet,  in  both  of  these  cases 
the  final  condition  of  j4,  at  the  expiration  of  six 
thousand  years,  will  be  precisely  the  same,  as  though 
no  difference  whatever  had  taken  place  in  the  inter- 
mediate stages  through  which  it  passed. 
If  J.  continue  a  less  time  than  £.  in  its  clemen- 


Sect.  VII.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY  337 

tary  state,  it  will  require  more  time  to  ripen  in  those 
stages  which  are  to  follow  ;  because  in  its  elemen- 
tary state  it  made  fewer  approaches  towards  perfec- 
tion, through  the  shortness  pf  that  period  which  ^vas 
allotted  it  in  its  elementary  state.  And  hence  it 
will  follow  by  the  same  mode  of  reasoning,  that 
tliough  ^.  continued  five  thousand  years  in  its  ele- 
mentary principles,  only  one  thousand  can  remain 
for  those  subsequent  stages  through  which  it  has  to 
pass.  The  materials  of  which  A.  was  afterward  to 
be  composed,  might  hav^  acquired  a  considerable 
degree  of  progressive  improvement,  while  in  their 
elementary  abode  ;  and  consequently,  be  at  a  much 
iess  distance  from  final  perfection  than  if  they  had 
only  been  fixed  in  that  station,  about  twenty,  thirty, 
or  forty  years. 

If  A.  and  B.  were  destined  to  pass  six  thousand 
years  in  C  and  D.  in  order  to  their  perfection,— -- 
that  the  first  stage  should  be  elementar\%  and  the 
second  should  be  formal  being ;  the  case  which  I 
hav-e  supposed  in  the  preceding  paragraph  v/ill 
equally  apply.  No  just  reason  can  be  assigned, 
from  the  circumstances  of  the  supposition,  how  long 
the  constituent  parts  of  A.  and  B.  should  continue 
in  C  which  is  presumed  to  be  their  elementary  con- 
dition. Their  time  may  be  considerably  diiFerent 
from  each  other,  in  thi^  elementary  state  ; ..  though 
the  final  result  may  be  the  same.  For,  if  in  this 
givqn  case  A.  were  to  continue  Jive  thousaiid  years, 
and  B.  only  five  hundred  in  this  elementaiy  state 
of  existence ;  A,  would  have  only  one  thousand 
years  to  remgiin  in  a  state  of  formal  being  before  it 


3f28       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

reached  perfection  :   while  B.  under  the  circumstan- 
ces of  the  supposition,  must    require  Jive  thousand 

Jive  hundred^  before  it  could  reach  ^  the  same  state 
of  perfection,  admitting  the  whole  period  to  amount 
with  each  to  six  thousand  years.  ;  And  the  reason 
of  this  difference,  if  such  it  may  be  termed,  arises 
from  'the  cases  themselves  avhich  have  been  given. 
The  length  of  that  duration  which  j4.  continued  in 
its  elementary  condition,  precluded  the  necessity  of 
any  greater  length  of  time  for  formal  being  ;  \v  hile 
in  the  case  of  JB.  the  scene  is  entirely  inverted  ;  and 
the  same  reasons  which  inform  us  why  A.  had  but 
a  comparatively  short  state  of  formal  being,  ^vill 
satisfactorily  assure  us  why  that  of  i?.  nmst  continue 

,so  long.  And  therefore,  from  all  the  cases  which 
have  been  supposed,  it  plainly  follows,  that  the  final 
result  must  be  perfectly  equal ;  and  that  at  the  last, 
perfection  must  be  attained  by  ji.  and  B.  in  the 
same  moment,  notwithstanding  the  diversity  which 
has  been  marked  in  their  intermediate  stages. 

It  is  in  this  manner  that  we  view  thote  princi- 
ples of  matter,  \\  hich  constitute  the  identity  of  the 
human  body.  The  extent  of  duration  which  is  ne- 
cessary to  prepare  the  human  body  for  :its  perfec- 
tion, lies  within  the  boundaries  of  time  ;  beginning 
with  its  commencement,  and  ending  when  time  shall 
be  no  more.  • 

Within  the  confmes  of  this  duration,,  we  behold 
four   distant   stages,    through   which   those    parts, 

which  constitute  the  identity  of  the  body,  must  neces- 
sarily pass,  in  order  to  their  attainment  of  complete 
perfection  beyond  the  grave.     The  Jif'st   of  these 


Sett.  VIL]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  329 

stages  is  that  of  its  elementary  principles ;  the  SC" 
cond  is  that  of  an  embr}'o  in  the  womb ;  the  third 
is  that  of  its  union  with  an  immaterial  spirit,  and 
witli  the  fluctuating  portions  of  flesh  and  blood  in 
our  present  state ;  and  the  fourth  stage  is  that  of 
its  residence  in  the  grave. 

The  whole  of  these  stages  are  undoubtedly  ne- 
cessary to  the  full  perfection  of  the  body,  they  are 
alembics  through  which  its  parts  must  necessarily 
move,  to  attain  that  vigour  which  shall  continue  for 
ever ;  and  which  can  only  be  attained  at  the  final 
consummation  of  things.  But,  the  periods  in 
%vhich  the  body  must  continue,  in  either  of  these 
distinct  stages,  seem  multiform  and  various ;  they 
vary  with  the  progressive  movements  of  time  ;  and 
though  they  lie  within  the  compass  of  the  general 
theory,  it  is  plain  to  discover  that  they  must  be  un- 
defined. 

The  materials  whrch  shall  hereafter  constitute 
the  body  or  identity  of  A,  may  have  lodged  but  a 
itw  years,  or  perhaps  but  a  few  weeks,  in  their  ele- 
mentary state;  and  consequently,  they  must  on 
that  account  require  a  proportionably  longer  period 
titlier  in  a  state  of  embryo,  in  our  present  condition 
Joy  in  tlie  grave.  But,  since  an  embryo  condition 
is  alike  to  all,  and  since  the  variation  of  our  present 
state  can  hardly  be  taken  into  the  account  which  we 
have  now  before  us,  it  being  in  this  view  nearly 
alike  in  all ;  the  time  which  seems  so  short  in  its 
elementary  state,  must  be  supplied  by  the  repose 
which  the  grave  affords.     A  deficiency  of  time  ia 

Yy 


33a      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  Vt. 

an  elementary  state,  must  therefore  be  made  up  by 
the  surplus  of  time  in  the  grave  ;  and  in  those  after 
ages  of  the  world,  in  which  a  surplus  of  elementary 
time  shall  appear,  it  will  be  fully  counteracted  by 
the  shortness  of  that  repose,  which,  {o  them,  the 
grave' will  be  able  to  supply. 

Time,  without  doubt,  has  a  close  connexion  with 
eternity ;  and  its  various  movements  apply  to  our 
future  being  beyond  the  grave/  For  which  reason, 
we  may  justly  take  into  the  account  the  whole  pro- 
gress of  successive  duration,  from  the  commence- 
ment, to  the  final  consummation  of  time.  And, 
though  we  suppose  that  no  identity  of  body  can 
have  any  being,  before  body  in  all  its  parts  has  a 
formal  existence  ;  yet,  it  is  easy  to  conceive,  that 
those  seminal  parts  out  ^f  which  it  is  composed, 
must  have  had  a  prior  existence  ;  and  that  in  their 
elementary  stations  they  may  have  undergone  a  va- 
riety of  imperceptible  changes,  through  which  they 
have  verged  towards  that  state  of  perfection  \\'hich 
will -not  be  completed  till  the  sea  and  the  grave 
shall  give  up  their  dead. 

At  the  same  time,  while  it  thus  appears  demon- 
strable, that  the  constituent  pai*ticles  which  shall 
form  the  body,  may  verge  towards  perfection, 
though  formal  being  has  no  existence  ;  it  is  also  evi- 
dent, that  the  resurrection  of  the  body  can  only 
take  place  at  that  time  which  God  has  appointed, 
and  which  is  only  known  to  hnn.  It  must  be  a 
period,   when  all  the  individuals  of  tlie  human  race 


Sect.  VII.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  331 

shall  have  passed  through  those  various  processes, 
which  are  necessary  to  ripen  their  bodies  for  eter- 
nity ;  so  that  at  the  sound  of  the  trumpet  all  the 
different  inhabitants  of  the  ^voY\d  may  start  at  once 
into  immortal  life. 

Thus  then,  we  may  easily  perceive,  that  notwith- 
standing the  infinite  variety  of  births,  of  deaths,  and 
of  abortions,  which  have  taken  place  already,  and 
which  shall  take  place  hereafter ;  the  resurrection 
of  all  the  bodies  of  the  dead  will  be  alike  recon- 
cileable  to  the  principles  before  us.  Nothing  will 
be  over-ripe,  nothing  will  be  premature.  .All  are 
now  tending  to  the  same  point,  and  have  been  so 
from  creation  to  the  present  hour ;  all  will  therefore, 
be  alike  prepared  for  that  important  moment,  when 
the  piercing  call  of  God  shall  enter  the  territories  of 
the  dead,  and  awaken  mankind  to  a  mode  of  life 
ivhich  is  at  present  but  little  known. 

Hence  then  we  may  perceive,  that  those  objec- 
tions which  are  only  founded  upon  the  circum- 
stances of  a  fact,  can  never  apply  to  the  fact  itself. 
Nothing  but  objections  against  fact  can  apply  to 
fact;  while  objections  against  circumstances  can 
only  apply  to  circumstances.  In  the  case  before 
us,  it  is  only  of  fact  that  I  have  presumed  to  speak  ; 
the  circumstances  of  it  have  only  been  introduced  in 
general  terms,  to  counteract  those  objections  wliicli 
appeared  against  the  subordinate  parts  of  the  the- 
ory which  had  been  adduced.  The  fact  itself  may 
be  unexceptionable,  while  the  circumstances  of  it 
may  be  encumbered  with  difficulties  which  cannot 
be  overcome.     Argument  may  be  adduced  in  fa- 


332      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

vour  of  tlie  former,  too  strong  to  be  refuted,  and 
too  perspicuous  to  be  overlooked.  In  those  cases, 
all  objections  against  the  attendant  circumstances 
of  such  facts  must  necessarily  give  way,  even  though 
they  contain  difficulties  which  cannot  be  overcome, 
and  to  which  no  answer  can  be  given, 

No  fact  can  be  more  evident  than  that  of  the  ex- 
istence of  God ;  and  yet,  the  circumstances  of  his 
existence  are  wrapped  in  impenetrable  darkness. 
The  certainty  of  his  existence  cannot  be  affected  by 
the  manner  of  his  existence ;  we  may  be  fully  satis- 
fied of  the  former,  though  the  latter  be  totally  un- 
known. That  the  sun  is  the  fountain  of  light 
will  admit  of  no  dispute ;  but  to  opinions  on 
the  manner  in  which  these  properties  either  inhere 
in  that  luminary,  or  are  produced  by  him,  there  is 
hardly  any  end.  The  various  productions  of  na- 
ture appear  before  us  in  a  similar  manner ;  we  are 
satisfied  of  their  existence,  but  the  ways  in  which 
they  take  place  are  totally  unknown.  In  all  these 
cases,  the  evidence  of  the  fact  is  totally  distinct  from' 
the  evidence  of  its  circumstances,  the  former  is 
placed  witliin  our  reach,  but  the  latter  lies  concealed 
from  our  most  acute  researches. 

It  is  on  principles  of  a  similar  nature,  founded 
on  correspondent  evidence,  that  we  may  be  assured 
that  some  permanent  principles  of  matter  are 
lodged  within  us  ;— that  they  constitute  the  identity 
of  our  bodies  ; — that  they  move  through  the  various 
stages  of  progression ;  and  ripen  into  perfection 
through  the  lapse  of  duration,  and  the  progress  of 
porruption  in  the  grave.     At  the  same  tiHie,   the 


8cct.  VII.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  333 

subordinate  circumstances  which  are  attendant  on 
the  fact,  are  placed  in  many  cases  beyond  our 
reach;  they  elude  our  researches,  and  not  unfre- 
quently  mock  our  hopes.  We  have,  therefore,  suf- 
ficient evidence  to  prove  that  the  fact  itself  stands 
independently  of  all  its  subordinate  circumstances ; 
and  that  they  are  points  which  in  tliis  view  have  no 
necessary  connexion  with  one  another.  It  therefore 
follows,  that  all  those  objections  which  have  origina- 
ted in  the  circumstances  of  this  fact,  and  which  in 
the  case  last  considered,  were  applied  to  the  fact  itself, 
cannot  affect  the  general  question,  though  it  should 
appeal*  that  they  have  not  been  satisfactorily  account- 
ed for.  In  either  case,  the  fact  itself  is  disencum- 
bered from  those  difficulties  which  apparently  clog- 
ged it,  and  those  objections  which  have  been  raised, 
must  consequently  disappeai*. 

The  proofs  which  will  tend  to  establish  the  fact 
must  insensibly  tend  to  silence  those  objections 
which  may  be  raised  against  its  dependencies,  by 
separating  it  from  them,  and  thereby  causing  it  to 
stand  or  fall  by  its  own  evidence.  The  most  for- 
midable objections  which  occur,  have  been  already 
considered  ;  and  we  proceed  in  the  next  Sfection  to 
give  a  summary  of  that  evidence  which  induces  us 
to  believe  the  fact. 


SSt      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 


SECT.   VIII. 

Summary  of  that  direct  Evidence,  by  which  we 
are  assured^  that  the  Identity  of  the  Human 
Body  must  consist  in  some  radical  Principle,  or 
Germ,  which  can  neither  expire  nor  change. 

Having  entered  somewhat  largely  into  the  subject 
of  identity  in  the  preceding  sections,  and  considered 
it  in  various  views  and  relations,  it  may  not  be  im- 
proper to  present  the  reader  with  those  proofs  which 
hav€  already  been  laid  before  him,  detached  from 
those  connexions  in  which  they  have  been  already 
seen. 

We  have  uniformly  fixed  the  identity  of  the  body 
in  some  immoveable  principles  of  matter,  which  we 
have  indifferently  denominated  germ,  or  stamen. 
We  have  supposed  it  to  be  incapable  of  decay  or 
change,  and  to  be  the  foundation  of  that  body  which 
shall  survive  the  grave.  That  such  a  principle  does 
actually  exist,  we  have  both  presumed  and  adduced 
evidence  to  prove ;  and  vv^e  now  proceed  to  give  a 
summaiy  statement  of  the  evidence  which  has  indu- 
ced that  belief. 

As  ma7i  is  now  in  actual  existence,  he  must  have 
his  personality  peculiar  to  himself;  or  how  other- 
wise shall  one  indMdual  be  distinguished  from 
anotiier  ?  The  human  body  is,  in  this  view,  dis- 
tinct from  the  man.  The  body  being  also  in 
existence  must  have  some  distinguishing  criterion, 


Sect.  VIII. J        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  335 

by  which  it  is  denominated,  and  considered  a  part 
from  all  others.  This  distinguishing  criterion  must 
also  cdhsist  in  somethings  whatsoever  that  something 
may  be. 

The  principal  candidates  to  fill  this  important  sta- 
tion, which  can  offer  themselves  to  our  thoughts, 
may  be  considered  as  six  in  number,  it  is  amongst 
these,  therefore,  alone  that  we  can  look  for  the  identi- 
ty of  the  body,  with  any  probable  hope  of  success. 
The  Jirst  subject  in  which  we  can  conceive  the 
identity  of  the  body  to  be  lodged,  jnust  be  those^ 
particles,  which  compose  our  bodies  when  we  Jirst 
enter  upon  life.     The  second  is  in  those  numerical 
particles  which   compose   our   bodies   at  any  given 
period  of  our  lives.     The  third  must  consist  in  the 
modification  of  the  parts  ;-   the  fourth,  in  all  those 
particles,    which   compose   our   bodies   at    the   time 
of  death;    the  fifth    is   in    the   majority   of  those 
particles   which  are  deposited  i?i    the   earth ;    and 
the  sixth  is  in   some  immoveable  principle,  which 
has  survived  the  changes  of  our  bodies,  and  which 
shall  survive  the  shock  of  death.     To  these  six  par- 
ticulars we  shall  now  turn  our  thoughts,  and  briefly 
examine  the  pretensions  of  each. 

The  identity  of  the  body  cannot  consist  in  tlie 
numerical  particles  which  compose  the  body  of  an 
infant,  because  of  those  surprising  changes  wliich 
it  visibly  undergoes ;  and  because  it  would  be  irre- 
concileable  with  the  principles  of  justice,  to  ad- 
minister either  rewards  or  punishments  in  another 
life,  for  those  personal  actions  which  the  body  of 
an  infant  could  not  possibly  have  peiformed.     On 


33«       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI 

these  gi'ounds,  this  first  candidate  for  identity  must 
be  dismissed,  because  the  admission  would  involve 
both  injustice  and  absurdity,  * 

Neither  can  the  identity  of  our  bodies  be  lodged 
in  all  the  numerical  particles,  of  which  they  are 
composed,  at  any  given  period  of  our  lives,  as  was 
supposed  in  the  second  case.  As  the  human  body 
is  in  a  state  of  perpetual  mutation,  the  supposition 
xvhich  places  its  identity  in  all  the  numerical  parti- 
cles of  which  it  is  composed,  will  necessarily 
©blige  us  to  suppose,  that  identity  must  be  trans- 
ferred from  one  system  of  atoms  to  another,  which 
involves  a  plain  contradiction.  As  therefore,  iden- 
tity,  in  whatsoever  it  may  consist,  cannot  possibly 
undergo  any  transfer,  because  it  is  contradictory; 
and,  as  the  human  body  is  in  a  state  of  perpetual 
change,  it  plainly  follows,  that  identity  cannot  con- 
sist in  all  the  numerical  particles  of  which  the  body 
has  at  any  given  period  been  composed. 

Neither  can  we  suppose  that  the  identity  of  tiic 
body  can  consist  in  the  modification  of  those  partes 
which  at  any  given  period  reside  within  its  external 
form,  as  was  presumed  in  the  third  case.  In 
admitting  this  case,  we  shall  be  obliged  to  suppose 
that  the  identity  of  substance,  and  the  idcntitj'^  of 
the  modification  of  it,  are  terms  synonymous  with 
each  other,  though  tliey  are  manifestly  expressive 
of  two  distinct  ideas.  The  substance  may  remain 
entire  in  all  its  parts,  though  it  may  be  modified 
anew  in  an  infinite  variety  of  forms.  The  particles 
which  compose  any  given  system  of  organized  mat- 
ter, may  exchange  their  situation  with  one  anotlier, 


Sect.  VIII.]       OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  357 

without  being  removed  from  the  system,  or  even 
without  acquiring  any  particle  that  is  new.  Our 
o\vn  senses»point  out  unto  us  an  evident  distinction 
between  the  two  ideas  ;  and  we  cannot  avoid  learn- 
ing from  our  own  reflections j  that  the  sameness 
of  the  materials  of  which  our  bodies  are  composed, 
can  never  consist  in  the  arrangement  of  the  parts. 
Modification  alwkys  presupposes  existence,  and 
therefore  never  can  constitute  it.  Modification  is 
perpetually  changing,  through  every  stage  which 
the  6ody  undergoes,  from  infancy  to  hoary  age, 
while  sameness  continues  unalterable ;  which 
plainly  proves  that  these  distinct  ideas  can  never 
be  blended  together.  The  supposition  before  usj 
therefore,  places  the  identity  of  the  body  on  a 
more  precarious  foundation,  than  that  which  pre- 
sumed it  to  consist  in  all  the  numerical  parts  them- 
selves. That  supposition  involved  a  contradiction ; 
and  this  supposes  that  the  materials  themselves  are 
the  same  with  the  arrangement  of  them.  From 
these  considerations  it  plainly  follows,  that  the 
identity  of  the  body  can  no  more  consist  in  the  mo- 
dification of  any  numerical  parts,  than  it  can  con- 
sist in  those  parts  which  are  presumed  to  be  thus 
modified  and  arranged. 

Neither  can  we,  in  the  fourth  place,  suppose 
that  the  identity  of  the  body  can  consist  in  all  those 
particles,  which  are  deposited  in  the  grave.  In 
admitting  this  fourth  supposition,  we  must  presume 
that  no  identity  of  the  body  did  exist,  before  the 

Z    z 


338      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

period  of  death  or  inteniient ;  because  from  this 
alone  it  is  presumed  to  be  denominated.  And,  as 
a  tniiisfer  of  identity  is  totallj-  impossible,  and  this 
state  of  body  could  not  be  acquired  prior  to  the 
moment  which  we  suppose ;  it  will  be  impossible 
to  say  how  this  body  can  be  a  subject  either  of 
reward  or  punishment,  or  become  accountable  for 
activ.is  which  were  committed  before  this  identity 
had  aiiy  existence.  In  allowing  the  supposition 
before  us,  we  must  presume  that  the  body  had 
passed  through  life  without  an)^  principle  of  identity  ; 
and  that  this  principle  was  only  acquired  when  it  'i 
was  about  to  be  deposited  in  the  grave.  In  this 
view,  we  must  suppose  the  body  to  be  nothing  more 
than  a  floating  mass  of  matter,  moving  through  life 
without  any  personal  sameness,  totally  devoid  of  \ 
praise  or  blame  ;  equally  unaccountable  for  its 
actions ;  and  utterly  incapable  of  becoming  the 
object  either  of  punishment  or  reward. 

If  the  body  of  man  can  pass  through  life,  without 
any  principle  of  identity,  and  ^vithout  any  denomi- 
nation of  it,  why  should  we  suppose  that  the  body 
should  acquire  it  at  the  hour  of  death,  or  in  the 
moment  of  interment?  Can  identity  in  death  and 
corruption  be  of  any  service  to  that  body,  which 
has  passed  through  life  without  its  aid?  The  sup- 
position  appears  too  ridiculous  to  require  further 
examination  ;  it  even  refutes  itself,  and  obliges  the 
inquiring  mind  to  seek  the  identity  of  the  body  in 
r.onie  other  region.  As  therefore  the  supposition 
before  us  can  never  be  reconciled  with  those  prin 


Sect.  VIII.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  339 

ciples  of  immutable  justice,  which  can  alone  inflict 
punishments  and  confer  rewards,  and  make  these 
punishments  and  rewards  commensurate  to .  the  ac- 
tions of  the  present  life ;  we  are  furnished  with  the 
most  unquestionable  evidence,  that  it  must  be  de- 
lusive and  absurd.  I  therefore  conclude,  that  the 
identity  of  the  body  cannot  be  denominated  from- 
all  those  particles  which  are  deposited  in  the  grtive, 
any  more  than  from  that  matter  which  composes 
our  bodies,  or  the  modification  which  that  matter 
might  have  assumed. 

Nor  shall  we  extricate  ourselves  from  these  em- 
barrassments, if  we  place  the  identity  of  the  body 
in  the  majority  of  those  particles  xvhich  are  depo" 
sited  VI  the  grave,  rather  than  in  all  the  parts  of 
the  lifeless  mass-  The  majority  of  those  particles 
which  ai'e  deposited  in  the  grave,  must  evidently 
have  been  acquired  since  the  commencement  of 
formal  life ;  and  consequently,  can  be  but  one 
stage  removed  from  the  condition  of  the  particles 
at  large.  The  quantity  of  matter  which  composes 
the  body  of  an  infant,  when  it  enters  life,,  can  bear 
no  proportion  to  the  majority  of  those  particles, 
which  composes  at  death  the  body  of  an  adult.  All 
those,  therefore,  which  are  deficient  in  the  body 
of  an  infant,  when  compared  with  the  majority  of 
those  which  compose  the  body  of  im  adult,  must 
evidently  have  been  acquired  by  the  adult  in  some 
of  those  stages  through  which  the  body  has  evident-' 
\^  passed.     And,  whether  we  suppose  the  particles 


340    IDENTITY   AND   RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

which  compose  the  body  of  the  infant,  to  be  in- 
cluded in  those  which  constitute  that  of  the  man,  or 
to  be  excluded  form  the  number;  we  must  in 
either  case  involve  ourselves  in  difficulties  which 

are  wholly  unsurmountable. 

If  we  suppose  the  body  of  the  infant  to  be  in- 
cluded in  the  majority  of  those  particles  which 
constitute  that  of  the  man,  at  the  time  of  interment, 
the  identity  of  his  body  must  consist  in  particles  of 
two  descriptions,  those  that  were  original,  and  those 
which  were  acquired.  Can  it  then  be  just  to  pu- 
nish or  reward  the  particles  which  formed  the  infant, 
for  those  actions  which  were  performed  by  the  par- 
ticles which  were  acquired  ?  Or,  if  we  invert  the 
order,  can  we  conceive  it  consonant  to  justice  to 
punish  or  reward  the  particles  of  the  adult  for 
those  actions  which  the  infant  only  performed  ? 
This  appears  to  be  impossible.  If  those  particles 
which  composed  the  body  of  the  infant  had  no  iden- 
tity of  themselves,  they  never  could  acquire  it  by 
associating  with  those  particles  which  were  after- 
wards acquired ;  but,  if  they  had  an  identity,  they 
could  not  take  the  acquired  particles  into  an  union 
with  themselves,  because  in  no  case  whatever  can 
sameness  be  transferred.  The  particles,  there- 
fore, which  composed  the  body  of  the  infant,  could 
never  incorporate  with  those  which  were  acquired, 
in  point  of  identity,  nor  share  between  themselves 
'and  others  a  sameness  which  never  could  be  trans- 
ferred, 


Sect.  VIII.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  34i 

But,  if  we  suppose  that  the  particles  which  com- 
posed the  body,  when  in  its  infant  state,  are  not 
included  in  the  majority  of  those  particles  which 
compose  the  body  at  death ;  then  all  those  particles 
in  which  the  identity  of  the  body  is  presumed  to  be 
placed,  must  evidently  be  acquired.  In  this  case, 
the  body  which  was  born  is  not  the  body  which 
dies ;  all  its  parts  must  have  dissipated  by  insen- 
sible degrees;  and  the  body  which  is  interred  in 
the  gra-ve  can  contain  within  it  not  a  single  particle 
which  was  originally  united  to  the  immortal  spirit. 
In  this  view,  the  spirit  must  have  undergone  a 
transmigration,  as  much  so,  as  if  the  soul  of  Py- 
thagoras had  inhabited  the  body  of  Bacon,  or  of 
Locke.  Hence,  therefore,  I  conclude,  that,  as  in 
point  of  fact,  the  body  which  is  buried,  must  be 
the  same  body  that  was  born,  (which  cannot  be,  if 
the  identity  of  it  consists  in  particles  which  arc 
acquired)  no  acquirement  of  particles  can  either 
give  or  constitute  the  identity  of  the  body.  And, 
if  identity  cannot  consist  ,eidier  in  the  union  of 
original  and  acquired  particles,  or  in  particles  which 
are  wholly  acquired,  then  the  identity  of  the  body 
"cannot  consist  in  the  majority  of  those  particles  which 
are  deposited  in  the  grave. 

Neither,  if  we  proceed  one  step  further,  and 
include  our  bodily  organs,  in  which  some  have  even 
supposed  that  the  identity  of  the  body  consists,  will 
the  result  appear  more  favourable.  For,  as  these 
organs  may  be  mutilated,  and  some  of  them  totally 
destroyed,  while  sameness  of  person  and  sameness 
of  body  remain ;   it  will  plainly  follow,   that  the 


liJ        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

identity  of  the  body  can  neither  consist  in  its  orga- 
nizLition,  nor  depend  upon  it.  And,  if  the  organs 
ean  be  destroyed,  while  the  sameness  of  body 
remains  entire,  which  I  think  no  one  will  presume 
to  deny ;  it  is  a  demonstrative  proof  that  they  are 
two  distinct  subjects,  which  have  little  or  no  neces- 
sary  connection  with  each  other. 

As  then  the  identity  of  our  bodies  cannot  consist 
in  all  those  atojns  which  we  drought  into  the 
world  xvith  us,  because  it  would  be  irreconcileable 
with  justice  to  reward  or  punish  hereafter  for  those 
actions  which  maturity  only  could  commit ;  so, 
neither  can  we  suppose  that  identity  can  consist  in 
all  the  numerical  particles  of  which  our  bodies 
are  at  any  given  time  composed ;  because  these 
particles  are  in  a  perpetual  change,  and  because 
identity  cannot  pos^sibly  be  transferred.  And,  as  it 
cannot  consist  in  the  modiJicatio7i  of  the  parts, 
because  sameness  and  arrangement  are  two  distinct 
ideas ;  nor  in  all  those  particles  which  are  depo- 
sited in  the  grave ;  because  this  supposes  man  to 
have  existed  tlii'ough  life  without  any  identity  ;  nor 
in  the  majority  of  these  particles,  because  they 
have  evidently  been  acquired,  and  had  no  existence 
in  the  origin  of  man ;  it  is  folly  in  the  highest  de- 
gree to  place  identity  in  those  bodily  organs,  which 
may  be  mulilateil,  while  the  identity  of  the  body 
remains  entire.  If,  therefore,  the  identity  of  the 
body  cannot  consist  in  the  whole,  nor  in  the  modi- 
fcation  of  it,  whether  estimated  in  infancy  or  in 
maturity ;  nor  in  the  whole;  nor  in  the  majority 
of  those  particles  wliich  are  deposited  in  the  grave. 


Sect.  VIII.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  343 

nor  ill  the  organs  of  our  bodies ;  what  remains  in 
which  it  can  possibly  consist  ?  It  must  consist  in 
something;  and  that  something  must  reside  within 
the  confines  of  man.  Nothing  more  remains,  in 
v/hich  we  can  conceive  it  possible,  but  that  germ, 
dr  stamen^  which  has  been  already  considered.  The 
admission  therefore,  of  some  immoveable  principle, 
which  neither  the  progress  of  time  nor  of  life  can 
alter,  arises  fi'om  a  kind  of  moral  necessity,  which  it 
is  difficult  to  resist. 

When,  therefore,  we  contemplate  the  evidence 
which  breaks  upon  us  in  various  forms,  in  favour  of 
some  immoveable  principle,  both  from  probable 
circumstances  and  more  direct  proof;  and  when  to 
tliis  we  add  the  inefficacy  of  those  objections  which 
can  be  brought  against  it ;  and  behold  all  nature 
supporting  it  by  the  analogy  of  vegetation  in  its  va- 
rious productions  and  forms  ;  the  evidence  becomes 
at  once  powerful  and  convincing.  But,  when  in 
addition  to  these  circumstances,  we  reflect,  that 
having  travelled  over  those  regions  A^ihich  could 
alone  promise  success,  and  finding  every  point  on 
which  we  have  fixed,  to  find  the  identity  of  the 
body,  objectionable  to  a  degree  which  has  precluded 
probability ;  we  are  turned  back  upon  this  princi- 
ple, which  is  immoveable  by  the  impulse  of  moral 
necessity,  and  the  dictates  of  reason.  And,  when 
to  these  circumstances  we  add  the  superior  authority 
of  an  apostle,  who  has  selected  the  process  of  ve- 
^  getation  by  which  to  illustrate  the  important  subject 
which  we  have  before  us ;  and  who,  to  carry  our 
reasoning  into  a  future  state,  has  expressly  told  us 


344       IDENTITY  ANH  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VI. 

that  we  sow  not  that  body  which  shall  be  ;  what  can 
we  say,  but  that  the  evidences  taken  in  the  aggregate, 
and  collected  from  those  distinct  quarters,  become 
at  once  imperious  and  irresistible. 

Strange  and  unaccountable  as  it  may  appear,  no 
other  view  affords  us  as  much  probable  evidence, 
as  that  subject  which  we  have  chosen;  and  in  which 
we  have  presumed  that  God  has  placed  the  identity 
of  the  human  body.  That  this  subject  has  its  diffi- 
eulties  I  have  repeatedly  admitted  ;  and  that  objec- 
tions may  be  raised  against  it  we  have  already  seen. 
Some  of  these  objections  have  been  considered,  but 
many  more  which  it  is  impossible  to  anticipate  may 
hereafter  be  advanced.  To  these  unknown  objec- 
tions, I  must  beg  leave,  before  I  quit  this  subject, 
to  offer  the  following  remarks,  which  may  operate  as 
an  apology  for  that  theory  which  has  been  adopted. 

It  is  enough  for  us  to  know  that  we  can  trace,  in 
the  analogy  of  nature,  those  lines  which  divide  im- 
possibility/  from  possibility;  through  which  we 
learn  those  directions  which  the  conduct  of  the  Al- 
mighty takes.  But,  the  secret  springs  of  action 
are  hidden  from  our  views,  and  lodged  in  those  al- 
most unapproachable  recesses  which  infinite  intel- 
ligence only  can  explore.  Another  world  may  un- 
fold to  us  an  infinite  variety  of  things,  of  which  at 
present  we  can  form  no  conceptions ;  while  the 
changes  which  we  shall  undergo,  will,  without 
doubt,  exalt  us  in  the  scale  of  intelligence,  as  much 
above  our  present  condition,  as  we  now  are  above 
the  brute  creation. 

Whether  an  insight  into  the  physical  origin  of  ac- 


Sect.  I.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  34S 

tion  and  intelligence  may  be  among  the  communi- 
cable or  incommunicable  realities  of  an  hereafter, 
we  are  at  present  certainly  too  ignorant  to  deter- 
4nine;  probability  favours  the  latter.  If  then  it 
be  incommunicable,  many  objections  which  we  have 
in  time,  will,  without  doubt,  continue  in  eternity. 
But,  even  admitting  that  a  knowledge  of  these 
things  will  be  incommunicable  to  us,  we  shall  have, 
no  doubt,  satisfactory  reasons  revealed  to  us  why 
they  are  concealed  ;  and  we  may  learn  from  that 
circumstance  how  infinitely  inferior  the  most  exalted 
of  created  beings  is  to  Him,  who  in  the  most  em- 
,  phatic  language  of  scripture,  inhabiteth  eternity. 

How  any  particles  which  were  not  vitally  united 
to  the  human  body  can  obtain  an  union  with  it,  or 
ho^v  those  which  are  now  united  shall  hereafter  be 
Vemov^d  from  it,  or  in  what  manner  those  changes 
V'idiich  the  body  undergoes  in  time  have  been  effect' 
ed,  I  confess  myself  totally  unable  to  comprehend. 
But,  objections  which  may  be  raised  on  these 
grounds,  are  not  objections  against  theory,  but 
against  fact ;  and  on  that  account  it  is  not  incum- 
bent on  me  to  answer  them.  Fact  itself  always 
rises  superior  to  speculative  opposition,  and  bids 
defiance  to  all  attack.  And,  while  it  marks  the 
weakness  of  the  human  intellect,  it  plamly  assured 
us  that  we  are  ignorant  of  those  things  which  are 
around  us,  and  that  we  are  strangers  even  to  our- 
selves. 

Here  then  we  finally  rest  in  tliis  department  of 
the  work ;  and  wait  the  flight  of  time,  or  the  final 
consummation  of  all  things,  either  to  confirm  our 

A  a  a 


^46        IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VL 

judgments  or  correct  our  errors.  How  the  dead  are 
raised,  and  xvith  what  bodies  they  comey  are  but 
remote  branches  of  inquiry;  we  are  more  intimately 
concerned  in  kno\\dng  ^vith  certainty  the  fact  itself, 
than  we  are  in  ascertaining  how  the  various  changes 
shall  be  accomplished.  The  whole  process  belongs 
to  God,  who  giveth  to  the  gertn  deposited  in  the 
grave  a  body,  as  it  pleaseth  him,  and  to  every  seed 
his  own  body ;  and  after  all  our  conjectui^  proba- 
bilities, when  the  event  shall  take  place,  we,  without 
all  doubt,  shall  acquire  more  real  knowledge  of 
those  mysterious  realities  in  one  moment,  than  we 
can  now  obtain,  though  our  whole  lives  were  de- 
voted to  the  investigation  of  such  theories.  The 
evidence  of  the  fact  itself,  abstractedly  from  all  its 
circumstances,  is  however  of  a  different  nature,  "and 
involves  our  dearest  interests.  This  evidence  arises 
from  disthict  sources;  some  of  them  we  have  already 
explored,  and  others  yet  remain  for  our  investigation* 
These,  therefore,  which  have  been  unexplored,  will 
fonn  the  subject  of  the  ensuing  chapter. 


;ct.  1.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  539 


CHAP.  VII. 

THAT  THE  fifeSURRECTION  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY 
IS  POSSIBLE,  PROBABLE,  AND  CERT AIN,  PRO- 
VED BOTH  FROM  PHILOSOPHY  AND  SCRIPTURE. 

SECT.  I. 

That  the  Resurrection  of  the  human  Body  is  possi- 
Me ^  proved  from  the  Nature  of  infinite  Foxven^ 
and  the  iinobstriicting  JVature  of  Matter, 

When  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  the  mere  pes* 
sibility  of  what  may  or  may  not  be,  m  any  given 
ease,  we  can  only  view  the  subject  in  connexion  with 
that  power  to  which  the  action  is  attributed.  Our 
knowledge,  therefore,  of  that  line  which  divides  pos- 
sibility from  impossibihty,  will  approximate  towards 
the  truth,  or  fall  short  of  it,  in  due  proportion  to  our 
knowledge  of  that  power  which  that  Being  possesses, 
who  is  presumed  to  accomplish  the  action. 

Among  those  things  which  we  term  impossible, 
there  are  some  which  are  only  morally ,  but  not  ab- 
solutely so  ;  while  there  are  many  others,  which  are 
absolutely  impossible  ;  and  on  that  account  are  not 
placed  within  the  reach  of  any  power  whatso6^'er. 
To  man  those  things  are  morally  impossible,  which 
are  not  placed  within  the  reach  of  human  ingenuity 
to  accomplish;  and  perhaps  the  obsen'ation  will 
extend  to  ^1  the  different  ^orders  of  intelligent  be- 


348      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

ings  ;  that  which  is  placed  beyond  their  reach  to  ac- 
complish, may  with,  much  propriety  be  termed  a 
moral  impossibility. 

But,  this  impossibility  arises  not  from  the  subject, 
but  from  the  inability  of  the  agent.  Those  things 
which  are  impossible  to  man,  may  be  possible  to  a 
higher  order  of  intelligent  beings  ;  and  those  tilings 
which  are  impossible  to  them  are  possible  to  God. 
The  highest  orders  of  created  beings  have,  without 
doubt,  their  moral  impossibilities,  which  submit  to 
that  power  which  is  infinite  ;  though  they  must  be 
such  as  nothing  loss  than  infinite  power  can  over- 
come. But,  when  we  make  our  appeal  to  that 
power,  which  is  unlimited,  infinite,  and  eternal ;  no- 
thing but  that  which  involves  an  absolute  contradic- 
tion can  be  impossible  wdth  it.  It  is  in  relation  to 
this  power  that  we  must  consider  the  resurrection 
of  the  body ;  and  while  we  form  our  estimate  of 
those  diificulties  which  attend  the  fact,  we  must  con- 
sider whether, they  amount  to  an  absolute  impossi- 
bility, or  only  to  an  impossibility  which  is  moral. 
Because,  how  much  soc^■er  the  nature  of  any  fact 
may  beplaced  beyond  our  ability,  either  to  accom- 
plish or  to  comprehend,  if  it  include  not  any  con- 
tradiction \\  ithin  it,  no  argument  whatever  can  mili- 
tate-ttgainst  the  possibility  of  the  fact,  or  preclude  us 
from  admitting  it  amongst  the  number  of  possible 
cases,  and  of  giving  it  a  place  in  our  belief. 

We  have  now  before  us  a  case,  divested  of  all 
local  prejudices  ;  and  we  enter  a  region  which  rises 
superior  to  the  spjiere  of  man.  The  possibility  of 
the  resurrection  is  the  question  which  we  have  be- 


§ect.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  319 

fore  us ;  and  this  only  becomes  a  question,  as  it 
applies  to  the  power  of  almighty  God. 

That  God  has  created,  we  cannot  doubt ;  why 
then  may  he  not  restore  ?  He  lias  preserved  through 
a  centur}%  why  may  he  not  preserve. the  same  beings 
through  tv/o,  through  five,  or  even  through  eternity  ? 
^The  same  power  which  can  preserve  a  system  of 
matter  through  any  limited  duration,  can  without 
all  doubt  preser\'e  it  through  that  duration  which 
is  without  limits*  The  power  which  has  preserved- 
the  body  hitherto  in  its  probationary  state,  must 
have  been  limited  to  time  ;  but  the  same  being  who 
has  limited  his  operations  to  time,  can  without 
doubt  exert  the  operations  of  his  power  during 
eternity.  And,  if  limited  exertions  of  omnipotent 
power  can  preserve  a  compounded  body  through  a 
limited  period ;  the  same  power,  if  c;s:ertcd  without 
limits,  must  preserve  the  same  compounded  body 
through  an  unlimited  duration;  and  that  which  is 
preserved  through  an  unlimited  duration,  must  ne- 
cessarily, continue  for  ever. 

If  the  resun-ection  of  the  body  be  impossible  ;  the 
impossibility  must  aiise  either  from  the  subject  or 
tlie  agent.  It  must  be  either  because  the  materials 
of  wdiicli  the  body  is  composed,  contain  within  them- 
selves something  which  is  hostile  to  life,  and  incon- 
sistent witli  the  perpetuity  of  duration  ;  or  because 
there  is  a  defect  in  that  power,  by  v.  hich  it  is  pre- 
sumed to  be  accomplished.  The  ivill  of  God  is  not 
included  in  the  present  question ;-  it  is  a  point  which 
belongs  rather  to  the  probability,  than  to  the  nlere 
possibility  of  the  fact. 

That  there  iS  nothing  in  the  materials  themselves^ 


560     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII, 

hostile  to  life,  and  inconsistent  with  a  fesurrection, 
appears  evident  from  what  we  have  already  seen ; 
Sind  from  the  knowledge  which  we  have  of  matter. 
A  system  of  organized  matter  has  already  been 
called  into  existence ;  and  the  power  which  has  been 
exerted,  though  limited  in  duration,  has  been  ade- 
quate to  the  preservation  of  such  beings  as  ourselves , 
in  existence,  through  a  limited  space.  If,  therefore, 
nothing  existed  in  matter  which  forbade  the  continu- 
ance of  man,  through  any  g;iven  period ;  notliing 
can  exist  in  it  which  shall  forbid  its  j^erpetuity, 
l3^rough  a  longer  space  tlian  that  of  the  life  of  man  ; 
nothing  can  exist  in  matter  itself,  wliich  can  forbid 
that  man  should  live  for  ever. 

The  causes  of  death,  and  the  natural  tendency  of 
all  compounded  bodies  towards  dissolution,  we  have 
already  considered ;  and  we  have  seen,  from  the 
reasons  there  adduced,  that  these  causes  do  not  es- 
sentially inhere  in  imitter,  but  result  from  extraneous 
causes,  which,  if  removed,  would  leave  it  in  its  ori- 
ginal and  passive  state.  The  body  of  Adam,  with- 
out all  doubt,  was  in  that  peculiar  situation,  in  which 
the  influence  of  extrinsic  causes  was  counteracted  : 
and  no  question  can  be  made,  though  his  body  was 
material  like  our  own,  that  lie  was  totally  exempted 
from  dissolution  and  decay.  We  may,  therefore, 
from  hence  make  this  inference  ;  that,  as  the  human 
body  is  now  preserved  in  existence  through  a  limit- 
ed space,  and  as  the  body  of  Adam,  if  moral  evil  had 
never  entered  into  tlie  world,  must  have  been  immor- 
tal ;  nothing  inconsistent  with  perpetual  life  can  be 
included  in  those  materials  of  wliich  the  human 
body  is  composed. 


beet.  I.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.       ,      .      351, 

When  we  take  into  our  account,  a  power  which 
IS  unlimited,  and  in  our  views,  apply  that  power  to 
the  nature  of  possibilities,  we  are  led  to  this  con- 
clusion, that  whatever  has  once  been  in  existence, 
cannot  be  placed  beyond  the  possibility  of  exist- 
ence now :  for,  nothing  which  has  once  been  possible, 
can  ever  become  impossible.  Tliis  conclusion  ne- 
cessarily arises  from  the  nature  of  infinite  power,  an4 
the  immutability  of  truth. 

As,  therefore,  a  system  of  atoms  Is  now  in  ac- 
tual existence,  so  constituted  as  to  be  endued  with 
life;  and,  as  there  was  a  period,  in  which  tliat 
system  was  endowed  with  immortality ;  it  is  cer- 
tain from  the  observations  already  made,  that  no- 
thing can  communicate  to  matter,  whether  we  con- 
sider it  in  its  simple  state,  or  under  the  modifica- 
tions which  now  are,  or  which  have  ever  been,  any 
contradictory  qualities  which  it  has  not  always  pos^- 
sessed.  What  it  has  not  already  acquired,  it  never 
can  acquire,  (unless  we  presume  the  essence  to  be 
changed,  which  is  foreign  to  the  case  under  consi- 
deration,) it  therefore  never  can  be  removed  further 
from  the  influence  of  that  power  which  at  first  call- 
ed it  into  being,  and  moulded  it  into  man,  than  it 
has  already  been  ;  and  consequently,  it  can  never 
acquire  a  greater  hostility  to  perpetual  life,  than  that 
which  it  has  always  had,  which  it  now  has,  and 
which,  we  are  assured,  from  the  most  indubitable 
evidences,  has  been  already  subdued. 

If  then,  matter  cannot  acquire  any  such  hostile 
qualities  which  it  does  not  now  possess,  and  which 
it  has  not  always  possessed;  and  if  these  hostile 
qualities  are  partially  subdued  in  us,  and  were  to- 


552      XD:E:NTITY  and  resurrection  [Chap.  VIL, 

tally  subdued  in  Adam  ;  we  are  fully  satisfied,  that 
the  resurrection  of  the  body  cannot  be  an  impossi- 
ble fact,  in  consequence  of  any  thing,  which  may  be 
deemed  repugnant  in  matter.  For,  even  though 
the  real  essence  of  matter  be  unknown,  and  though 
inertness  be  inseparable  from  all  its  parts ;  yet  the 
principles  upon  which  this  conclusion  is  founded, 
still  remain  unshaken.  Nothing  that  is  impossible 
now,  can  ever  become  possible  to  matter,  as  it 
stands  opposed  to  infinite  power,  through  any 
changes  which  it  may  undergo,  or  through  any  qua- 
lities which  it  may  acquire.  Nothing,  therefore, 
can  ever  arise  within  it,  more  opposed  to  the  resur- 
rection of  the  body,  than  those  qualities  which  it 
now  possesses ;  and  these  qualities  have  already 
been  overruled,  and  matter  in  all  forms  has  yielded 
submission  to  power.  If,  therefore,  any  thing  can 
render  the  resurrection  impossible,  it  must  arise 
from  a  deficiency  in  that  power,  by  which  alone  the 
great  event  can  be  accomplished.  This  is  the  next 
point  to  be  examined. 

That  the  power  by  which  the  resurrection  is  to 
be  accomplished,  cannot  include  within  it  any  de- 
ficiency, must  be  admitted  ;  because  tliis  poM^er  is 
ascribed  to  God.  That  God  possesses  all  po^ver, 
is  necessarily  implied  in  omnipotence ;  and  will 
admit  neither  contradiction  nor  denial ;  nothing, 
therefore,  which  includes  witliin  it  no  contradiction^ 
can  be  impossible  to  him.. 

To  suppose  that  God,  who  is  infinite  in  power, 
can  be  deficient  in  power,  is  a  conception,  which 
not  only  impeaches  his  omnipotence,  but  involves  a 
positive  conti'adiction.     It  supposes  a  possibility  of 


Sect.  1.3         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  S53 

power  which  God  has  not ;  while,  by  admitting;  his 
omnipotence,  we  suppose  all  possible  jxiwer  to  be 
included  in  the  term.  If,  therdbre,  God  be  orani- 
potent,  and  is  yet  deficient  in  power,  h.e  mitst  p&S' 
sess  ali  power,  mtd  not  possess  it  &t  the  same  time. 
But,  since  this  contradiction  cannot  possibly  be 
admitted,  it  follows,  that  all  pos-sible  power  must  be 
possessed  by  God,  and  that  power  which  is  not  pos- 
siMe,  can  have  no  kind  of  existence.  Every  thing, 
ti^refone,  except  that  which  involves  a  plam  contra, 
diction,  is  pos^ble  to  God ;  and  that  which  in« 
volves  a  contradiction,  is  not  power,  nor  can  it  be 
an  object  of  it.  The  conclusion,  therefore,  mmst 
follow,  tiiat  there  can  be  no  deficiency  in  the  power 
of  God,  and  consequently,  thai  he  is  s^k  to  raise  the 
dead. 

In  this  view,  the  possibility  of  the  resiicrection  of 
the  body  cannot  be  controverted,  unless  the  sup- 
posed  fact  itself  involve  a  contradiction ;  because, 
from  the  reasonings  which  have  been  already  addu- 
ced, no  deficiency  of  power  can  attach  to  God ; 
^id  nothing  of  an  opposite  nature,  which  that  power 
is  unable  to  subdue,  can  reside  in  those  bodies  which 
are  to  be  raised. 

That  the  resurrection  does  not  include  within  it 
any  contradiction,  is  evident  from  those  changes  to 
which  matter  has  already  submitted,  and  from  that 
life  which  God  has  communicated  to  all  ani- 
mal substances.  And  where  power  is  without 
limits,  and  operates  upon  a  subject  which  is  unable 
to  resist  its  influence,  and  in  which  nothing  contra- 
dictor)^ to  the  event  designed,  can  be  included  ;  no* 
Bbb 


5^4    IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VIX 

tiling  of  an  impossible  nature  can  be  presumed  to 
reside. 

As  then,  nothing  can  be  deficient  in  the  power, 
and  nothing  can  be  obstructing,  no  formidable  ob-^ 
jection  can  remain :  and,  therefore,  the  resurrec-*, 
tion  of  the  body  can  afford  no  grounds  for  those 
doubts  which  might  be  started  on  the  impossibility 
of  the  case.  Nothing  can  be  beyond  the  reach  of 
infinite  power,  but  what  is  absolutely  impossible ; 
and  nothing  can  be  absolutely  impossible,  but  what 
includes  a  contradiction  ;  but,  as  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  does  not  involve  any  contradiction,  it  can- 
not be  impossible,  it  must  therefore  be  placed  within 
the  reach  of  that  power  which  resides  in  God. 

And,  as  nothing  contradictory  to  the  fact  can  ex- 
ist in  the  subject,  and  nothing  defective  can  be  at-, 
tributed  to  that  power,  by  which  the  event  is  pre- 
sumed to  be  accomplished ;  the  resurrection  of  the 
body  must  be  admitted  as  a  possible  case,  if  God 
should  be  so  pleased  to  exert  his  power.  Power 
that  is  infinite,  must  be  sufficient  to  preserve  our 
bodies  iir  existence,  either  in  their  present  form,  or 
in  any  other  which  God  shall  see  meet ;  and,  as  no 
period  can  be  set  to  its  operations,  it;  must  necessa- 
rily extend  to  eternity.  But,  Avhether  we  have  any 
reason  to  believe  that  God  will  thus  exert  his  power 
towards  us,  will  conduct  us  to  the  regions  of  proba- 
bility, and  must  therefore  be  the  subject  of  the  next 
section » 


Sect.  Il-il  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  355 


SECT..IL 

T'hut  the  Resurrection  of  the  Human  Body  is  highly^ 
probable,  from  a  Train  of  Presumptive  atid  Ana- 
logical Evidence. 

In  the  preceding  section,  we  have  considered  the 
resurrection  in  no  other  light  than  that  of  a  possible 
'^kfe.  In  that  view  we  have  taken  a  survey  of  mat- 
ter, and  examined  those  probable  obstructions, 
through  which  alone  we  had  any  reason  to  expect, 
that  the  possibility  of  the  resurrection  could  be  de- 
feated ;  and  we  see  nothing  which  can  lay  an  embar- 
go 6n  our  belief.  From  matter,  we  have  turned  our 
thoughts  to  power,  and  have  found  tliat  nothing  is  in- 
cluded in  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrectioif  which  ap- 
pears either  contradictory  or  absurd.  The  manner 
(it  is  true)  in  which  the  fact  shall  be  accomplished,  is 
a  subject  too  vast  for  the  grasp  of  our  most  vigorous 
powers ;  it  exceeds  our  most  enlarged  comprehen- 
,sion  ;  and  on  these  accounts  becomes  rather  an  ar- 
ticle of  faith  than  of  knowledge. 

From  those  views,  we  turn  to  a  neaier  inspection 
of  the  subject ;  and,  what  we  then  onJy  viewed  as 
possible  in  the  preceding  section,  we  shall  considei- 
as />ro6c6/<?  in  this.        '  j.    .:-'.. 

In  considering  the  possibility  of  the  fact,  as  it 
N^^ood  in  relation  to  God,  we  made  rio  appeal  to  any 
.attiibute  but  that  of  power.     In  that  consideration, 


356     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chapr.  VII. 

we  rather  surveyed  matter  in  its  modifications,  than 
turned  our  thoughts  more  immediately  to  man.  In 
the  view  before  us,  we  lose  sight  of  those  distant  re- 
gions, and  direct  our  inquiries  into  that  relation 
wherein  we  stand  to  God,  in  a  moral  capacity ;  and 
in  this  light  we  must  behold  him  as  the  moral  Go- 
vernor of  the  universe  ;  guided  in  aR  Ms  actions  by 
those  moral  attributes,  which  are  rnacparabk  from  his 
nature.* 

*  When  we  turn  our  thoughts  towatda  God^  we  frequently 
divide  his  attributes  into  two  distinct  classes,  the  former  of 
these  we  call  essential  attributes,  and  the  latter  we  denomi- 
nate moral.  In  the  former  class  we  include,  his  Omnifiotencey 
his  Immensity,  \a% rmmntabilityy  his  Omniadenee^dtndiXxii Eter- 
nity  I  and  in  the  Utter,  we  include  his  Holinessy  his  Justice^ 
his  Goodness,  lus.  Mercy,  and  his  Love. 

J  This  made  of  dividing  the  attributes  of  God,  though  justia 
itself  is  certainly  liable  to  much  misconception ;  and,  perhapsi 
these  misconceptions  can  scarcely  be  placed  in  a  more  injuri- 
ous light  than  in  the  case  which  we  have  now  before  us ;  be- 
cause it  is  chiefly  to  what  are  termed  the  moral  attributes  ©f 
God,  that  I  shall  now  appeal. 

The  division  of  these  attributes  of  Deity,  which  has  been 
jibove  stated,  seems,  by  denominating  the  formci-  class  "  essen- 
tial attributes,'*  to  imply,  that  the  latter  are  not  essential  to 
God ;  but,  ihjit  they  existed  in  an  arbitrary  manner,  and  could 
be  dispensed  with  at  pkasure.  But  this,  without  doubt,  is  an 
erroneous  notion.  It  commences  an  attack  upon  those  attri- 
butes which  we  denominate  esacntialv  and  in  fact,  tends  to 
Atheism. 

Every  attribute  which  belongs  to  God,  is  essential  to  him  ; 
by  what  name  soever  it  may  be  known,  in  the  languages  of 
mankind.  And  we  can  no  more  conceive,  that  God  can  ex- 
ist without  hii  Justice,  his  Hblineas,  his  Goodness,  his  Blercy, 
^\y&  bis  Love  $  tlwn  we  can  conceive  that  he  can  exisfr  without 


Sect  U.}         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  357 

The  question,  wMch:  nmr  presents  itself  before 
us,  is  not  what  man  can  cither  accomplish,  oer  com- 
prehend ;   but  wlat  God,  conaistentfy  with  his  jus- 

sttvy  of  iikose  attributes,  which  we  denomiaate  essential.  Let 
us  only  suppose  fior  a  moment,  that  either  of  these  attributes 
were  to  be  annihilated ;  into  what  a  dreadful  abyss  should  we 
immetliately  plunge  ourselves,  while  pursuing  our  reasonings ! 
If  Justice  were  de&troyed,  we  must  have  a  God  mrjust.  If  his 
Go&dne»s  vrere  destroyed,  he  could  confer  no  favours.  If  his 
£ioUnes&  were  destroyed,  he  could  possess  no  purity ;  and  if  ei- 
ther his  Mercy  or  his  Love  were  destroyed,  he  could  not  pos' 
iibly  fiossess  aW  fiossidle  fierfection.  That  being,  therefore, 
which  could  be  destitute  of  any  perfection,  could  not  be  infinite: 
and,  consequently,  all  those  attributes  which  we  denominate 
essential,  would  immediately  be  found  inapplicable  to  God. 
On  these  accounts,  we  are  under  a  necessity  of  concludingi 
that  those  attributes  which  we  denominate  moral  must  be  as 
b^separable  from  the  Diviae  nature,  as  those  are  which  we  de- 
nominate essential.  And  we  can  no  more  conceive,  that  the 
Deity  can  exist  without  the  one,  than  that  he  can  exist  without 
the  other  J  without  involving  ourselves  in  difficulties,  from 
which  we  shall  not  be  able  to  escape. 

The  reason,  in  all  probability,  why  the  attributes  of  God 
were  thus  distinguished  by  the  appellations  of  essential  and 
moraly  was,  that  they  might  be  better  accommodated  te» 
Uie  ccMidition  and  to  the  understanding  of  man.  In  this 
view,  the  atti'ibutes  which  we  perceive  ip  God,  are  evidently 
distinguished  from- one  another.  The  former  class  is  evidently 
incommunicable  to  any  finite  being  whatsoever;  because  finite 
would  then  become  infinite.  But  the  latter  class  God  has  been 
pleased  to  communicate  to  created  beings,  in  a  limited  manner. 
These  moral  excellencies  are  now  possessed  by  angels ;  they 
were  once  possessed  by  man,  and  will  be  inseparable  from  the 
spirits  of  just  men  made  perfect,  through  eternity  ;  and  will 
Tender  themselves  visible,  as  far  as  that  condition  of  being  can 
give  them  an  opportunity  of  operatmg,  for  ever. 

In  the  presept  condition  of  human  nature,  the  case,  how- 


358     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VIL 

ticc,  and  guided  by  that  compassion  which  knows 
no  bounds,  may  reasonably  be  expected  to  per- 
foi^^-  When  we  turn  our  thoughts  to  that  Good*^ 
nessy  that  Mercy^  that  Justice^  and  that  Love, 
which  reside  as  a  constellation  of  perfections  in 
God ;  what  may  we  not  expect !  Nothing  can  be 
too  great  for  Infinite  Power  to  perform,  nothing  can 
be  too  extensive  for  infinite  Mercy  and  Goodness 
to  bestow ;  and  nothing  but  that  which  is  unjust, 
have  we  any  reason  to  fear,  that  infinite  justice  wiU 
refuse. 

ever,  is  far  otherwise.  The  former  class  of  the  divine  attri- 
bntes,  we  are  assured,  can  never  be  communicated  to  any  crea- 
ture ;  and  the  latter,  though  communicated,  has  been  unhap- 
jpily  lost.  We  are  now  awfully  convinced,  that  those  attributes 
which  we  have  denominated  morale  are  by  no  means  insepara- 
ble from  man.  They  are  communications  from  God,  which 
apply  to  our  moi'al  conduct,  and  they  are  intimately  connected 
with  our  manner  of  existence  hereafter,  without  interfering^ 
■with  existence  itself.  Hence  then,  I  presume  they  have  been 
denominated  moral  attributes^  in  God,  because  in  a  moral  view 
they  apply  to  man,  and  are  intimately  connected  with  his  hap- 
piness or  misery,  when  time  shall  commence  eternity. 
'  But  though  with  man  those  moral  attributes  have  been  to- 
tally lost;  it  does  not  follow  that  they  can  be  lost  with  God. 
He  is  a  being  of  infinite  perfection,  and  on  that  account  can 
never  be  destitute  of  vwral perfection  ;  it  is  absurd,  nay,  it  is 
impious  in  the  highest  degree  to  suppose  it.  The  conclusion, 
therefore,  appears  at  once  both  fair  and  inevitable,  that  the 
moral  perfections  of  God  are  as  inseparable  from  his  nature,  as 
those  attributes  are  which  we  have  been  accustomed  to  deno- 
minate essential.  And  we  have  no  more  conception  that  either 
of  these  moral  excellencies  can  be  taken  from  God,  his  rhfi- 
nite  perfections  and  existence  still  remaining,  than  we  can 
conceive,  that  imwensity  can  have  limits,  or  that  omnipotence 
can  lose  it's  power. 


Sect.n.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  ■  35? 

Consistently  with  his  moral  perfections,  God  can 
raise  the  dead ;  and  both  his  justice  and  mercy  iii>i 
struct  us  to  expect  the  great  event.  In  the  pi^o- 
ductions  of  nature,  we  behold  an  analogy  which 
tends  to  enliven  our  hopes ;  and  the  changes,  which 
insects  and  vegetation  perpetually  undergo,  give 
us  an  assurance  which  could  not  be  designed  to 
mock  us  with  delusive  expectations.  A  state  of 
rewards  and  punishments  awaits  the  spirits  of  the 
departed ;  and  those  conceptions  which  we  have  of 
justice,  induce  us  to  expect  that  the  material  part- 
nere  of  these  spirits  shall  bear  their  respective  por^ 
tions,  either  in  punishments  or  rewards.  ^ 

The  imperfections  which  appear  in  the  moral 
government  of  God,  are  irreconcileable  with  his 
attributes  here ;  and  to  solve  the  difficulties  which 
associate  with  the  Divine  conduct,  we  are  obliged 
to  have  recourse  to  another  life.  The  rewards,  and 
punishments  of  another  state,  which  are  intimately 
connected  with  the  actions  of  the  present  life,  must 
be  founded  upon  justice  ;  and  can  only  apply  to  the 
individual  to  whom  the  various  actions  belonged. 
In  many  cases,  the  actions  of  our  lives  include 
both  soul  and  body ;  and  we  can  have  no  very- 
favourable  notion  of  that  justice,  which  shall  rC'-' 
ward  the  spirit  and  neglect  the  body ;  or  which 
shall  in  the  same  moment  administer  punishment 
to  the  soul,  and  permit  the  body  to  moulder  in  the 
grave.  We  are  forbidden  by  our  judgments  ttf 
assent  to  a  train  of  sentiments,  from  which  our  rea- 
son revolts,  and  which  obliges  us  to  place  the  j,usticft 


360      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

»f  God  in  a  situation,  whkh  will  admit  of  no  de- 
fence. / 

The  certainty  of  an  hereafter,  is  a  necessary  con- 
sequence  of  die  justice  of  God  ;  and  the  same  argu- 
Bicnts,  which  will  convince  us  of  rewanls  and  pun- 
ishments, will  oblige  us  to  admit  the  resurrection  of 
the  body,  as  a  companion,  which  justice  obliges  us 
to  associate  with  the  immaterial  spirit. 

Tbe  body  and  soul  having  acted  in  union  witli 
each  other,  in  these  regions  of  mortalit}-,  hare  an 
equal  claim  upon  divine  justice  s  and  arc  alike  the 
©bjects  of  mercy  and  compassion.  And  the  same 
reasons,  which  can  induce  us  to  believe,  that  jus- 
tice ean  continue  tmimpeached  in  its  cJiaracter, 
though  it  reward  the  soul  and  neglect  tl^  body; 
would  induce  us  to  believe  tiiat  it  could  retain  its 
name  and  nature,  though  it  were  to  neglect  the  soul 
likewise,  and  abandon  man  altogether.  The  dis- 
tance between  nothing  and  the  Body  is  greater  than 
that  which  lies  between  die  bodi/  and  the  soul. 
And,  if  we  can  believe  that  God  can  neglect  tlie 
body  altogether,  and  j'^et  remain  inflexibly  just; 
we  have  no  reason  whatever  to  believe  that  he  will 
be  unjust,  in  utteriy  neglecting  the  soul.  And,  if 
both  body  and  soul  may  be  neglected,  and  that 
fi>r  ever,  without  involving  any  injustice  on  tlie 
part  of  God  ;  all  our  hopes  and  fears  are  at  an  end. 
We  can  no  longer  look  to  justice,  either  for  punish- 
ments or  rewards,  with  tliat  confidence  which  alone 
can  influence  our  actions;  nor  look,  from  that 
^urce^  for  aiiV  recompense  or  punishment  beyond 


Sect.  II.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  351 

the  grave,   for  those  afflictions  or  vices  which  have 
'marked  our  conduct  in  the  present  state. 

Let  rewards  and  punishments  be  annihilated,  and 
man  is  no  longer  an  accountable  being  ;  and  the  im- 
mediate consequence  is,  tliat  all  distinction  between 
vice  and  virtue,  as  it  applies  to  man,  is  totally  done 
away.  This  consequence  opens  the  door  to  the 
indulgence  of  every  guilty  passion ;  and  while  it 
tends  to  increase  the  catalogue  of  human  enormities, 
it  shields  the  delinquent  from  the  dread  of  punish- 
ment, and  stifles  the  anguish  of  remorse.  It  hardens 
crime  into  impenitency,  gives  a  sanction  to  every 
vice,  and  banishes  virtue  from  the  v^^orld. 

But,  it  is  useless  to  trace  a  pernicious  principle, 
through  consequences  to  which  there  is  no  end.  A 
principle  which  leads  to  such  effects  and  consequen- 
ces, must  be  radically  bad  ;  and  in  point  of  fact  it 
must  be  utterly  false  ;  and  in  either  case  ought  not  to 
be  admitted. 

As,  therefore,  these  consequences  must  follow,  if 
no  distinction  between  vice  and  virtue  w^ere  to  re- 
main ;  and  as  rto  such  distinction  can  remain,  un- 
less we  have  respect  unto  another  life  ;  and  no  re- 
spect can  be  had  unto  another  life  unless  God  be 
immutably  just ;  and  as  that  immutable  justice  can- 
not be  made  satisfactorily  visible  in  punishing  the 
soul  and  neglecting  the  body ;  we  have  strong  rea- 
son to  believe  that  the  body  must  bear  its  part  also 
in  a  state  of  future  punishments  and  rewards  ;  and 
therefore  the  body  must  rise  agahi  from  the  grave. 

We  must  be  fully  satisfied  that  unpunished  vice, 
eitliCr  in  time  or  cternitv,  cannot  be  reconciled  with 

C  c  c 


.  362     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII.' 

the  justice  of  God.  And,  we  can  no  more  reconcile 
tliat  conduct  with  Divine  justice,  which  punishes 
the  soul  for  those  actions  which  the  body  assisted  in 
committing,  while  that  body  escapes  punishment; 
then  we  can,  if  God  were  to  suffer  the  guilty  to  go 
unpunished  altogether. 

That  the  body  has  been  guilty  of  immoral  actions, 
while  it  acted  in  conjunction  with  the  soul,  will  ad- 
mit of  no  dispute  ;  and,  if  it  exist  not  beyond  the 
grave,  that  which  has  been  guilty  of  immoral  ac- 
tion must  go  unpunished.  It  will  not  obviate  the 
objection,  to  say  that  punishment  is  inflicted  upon 
the  soul.  Partners  in  iniquity,  cannot,  in  point  of 
justice,  make  a  transfer  of  their  guilt.  If  the  body, 
which  is  guilty,  can  be  exempted  from  punishment, 
because  misery  had  been  inflicted  on  the  soul ;  jus- 
tice must,  in  this  case,  relinquish  its  claims  without 
any  equivalent,  and  the  real  delinquent  must  go 
free.  If  justice  can  discharge  the  body  from  pu- 
nishment ;  no  satisfactory  reason  can  be  assigned, 
^vhy  it  may  not  on  the  same  principle  dischai^ge  the 
soul.  And,  if  both  body  and  soul^  though  guilty, 
can  be  discharged  from  punishment;  punishment 
cannot  be  a  necessary  result  of  justice ;  and  that 
which  is  not  just,  cannot  be  performed  by  God. 
All  punishment  must,  therefore,  be  arbitnuy  ;  and 
that  which  is  arbitrary  can  have  no  respect  to  pre- 
vious actions.  And  that  punishment,  which  is  in- 
flicted without  any  regard  to  previous  actions,  must 
necessarily  be  unjust.  And  that  principle,  \vhich 
charges  God  with  injustice,  must  necessarily  be 
flilse. 


Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  363 

If,  therefore,  that  principle  must  be  false,  which 
charges  God  with  injustice  ;  and,  if  that  action 
must  be  unjust,  which  inflicts  punishment  without 
any  respect  to  previous  conduct ;  if  that  which  has 
no  respect  to  previous  conduct  must  necessarily  be 
arbitraiy ;  and  if  that  which  is  arbitrary,  may  dis- 
charge the  delinquent  without  an  equivalent ;  and 
if  that  which  thus  discharges  the  delinquent  cannot 
be  founded  upon  necessary  justice ;  and  if  that 
which  cannot  be  founded  upon  necessary  justice, 
cannot  be  from  God;  it  follows,  that  punishment 
is  a  necessary  effect  of  justice,  and  that  the  delin- 
quent cannot  be  dischaiged.  And  as  (in  the  case 
of  the  finally  impenitent)  both  body  and  soul  are  in 
a  state  of  delinquency  ;  and  no  delinquency  can  be 
discharged,  because  punishment  is  a  necessary  effect 
of  justice ;  it  also  follows,  that  the  body  must  rise 
from  the  tomb. 

Thus  then,  the  resurrection  of  the  body  becomes 
highly  probable  from  the  nature  of  the  Divine  attri- 
butes;  and  from  that  relation  in  which  the  body 
stands  to  the  moral  justice  of  God.  The  moral 
condition  of  man  enforces  our  belief  of  the  resurrec- 
tion ;  it  is  a  fact  which  corresponds  with  our  feel- 
ings, and  is  equally  a  dictate  of  our  wishes,  and  of 
Gur  judgments,  of  our  hopes,  and  ctf  our  fears. 

The  apparent  inequalities  of  man  ;  the  imperfec- 
tions which  appear  in  the  administration  of  justice  ; 
the  triumphs  of  vice,  and  the  adversities  and  afilic- 
tions  of  virtue ;  are  all  invincible  claims  upon  the 
i^ioral  justice  of  God,  for  a  dispensation  of  perfec- 
tion in  another  state.     Hence  our  views  are  directed 


364     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

to  look  forward  to  a  period,  in  which  the  present 
clouds  shall  be  swept  aside ;  and  in  which  God 
shall  vindicate  his  ways  to  man.  If  that  future  dis- 
pensation approach  not  towards  perfection,  with 
greater  nearness  than  the  present ;  we  have  no  just 
foundation  for  our  hopes ;  and,  if  that  dispensation 
to  which  we  look,  includes  within  it  a  greater  degree 
of  perfection  than  this  which  we  now  possess  ;  how 
can  wc  conceive  that  the  body  can  remain  unnoticed, 
and  be  left  behind  ?  The  body  is  closely  connected 
with  the  spirit,  by  various  but  inconceivable  ties  ;  and 
we  can  have  no  conception  of  any  perfection  which 
can  apply  to  man,  that  excludes  the  body  from  hav- 
ing a  part.  Perfection,  as  it  applies  to  man,  must 
include  his  nature ;  but  we  can  have  only  faint  con- 
ceptions of  that  perfection  of  the  nature  of  man, 
which  suffers  his  body  to  moulder  for  ever  in  the 
tomb.  Even  the  perfections  of  a  brighter  dispensa- 
tion, which  the  imperfections  of  the  present  world 
ensure,  point  out  unto  us  the  necessity  of  a  resur- 
rection ;  and  we  learn  from  that  injustice  which 
sometimes  deprives  of  life,  that  God  will  raise  the 
dead. 

Hitherto,  wc  have  chiefly  confined  our  observa- 
tions to  the  condition  of  the  guilty,  and  the  moral 
and  retributive  justice  of  God.  From  these  we  have 
seen  much  probable  evidence  to  induce  our  belief, 
that  a  resurrection  of  their  bodies  must  take  place. 
It  is  only  in  tliis  view,  that  we  can  conceive  justice 
to  be  inseparable  from  the  nature  of  God,  and  inca- 
pable of  exposing  itself  to  reproach,  either  through 
misapplication  or  neglect.     But,   in  admitting  the 


Sect.  IL]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  355 

resurrection  of  the  body  to  take  place,  all  is  harmo- 
nious and  uniform ;  no  chasms  appear ;  the  attri- 
butes of  Deity  shine  forth  in  all  th^ir  splendour ; 
and  we  see  a  foundation  for  human  hopes  and  fears. 
In  admitting  the  resurrection,  \v^  discover  how 
time  and  eternity  are  linked  together ;  and  .that  the 
morality  and  immorality  of  human  actions,  h^ve  an 
intimate  connexion  with  the  present  life.  In  ad- 
mitting this  fact  we  discover  justice  in  all  the  ways 
of  God ;  and  discern  the  foundation  of  those  re- 
wards and  punishments  which  await  our  actions  be- 
yond the  grave.  Through  this  we  penetrate  those 
shadows  which  encircle  human  life,  enlarge  the  ho' 
rizon  of  our  views,  and  trace  immutable  justice  to 
the  throne  of  God. 

But,  a  survey  of  justice  and  guilt  is  not  the  only 
prospect  which  the  attributes  of  God  afford.  If 
we  turn  our  thoughts  to  compassion  and  love^  and 
view  those  sources  of  consolation  to  the  saints  of 
God  ;  what  reason  can  they  have  to  doubt,  that  he 
will  raise  their  bodies  at  the  last  day  ?  It  is  unrea- 
sonable to  suppose  that  the  wicked  ha\e  more  to 
fear  from  punishment,  than  the  righteous  have  to 
hope  from  reward.  The  rigour  of  justice  cannot 
exceed  the  kindness  of  mercy ;  the  righteous  have 
therefore  as  firm  and  lasting  a  foundation  on  which 
to  rest  their  hopes,  as^the  guilty  have  to  confirm  their 
fears. 

TFhat  shall  we  say  to  these  things  ?  If  God  be 
for  iis^  who  shall  be  against  tis?  He  that  spared 
not  his  own   Son,  but  delivered  him  up  for  us  ally 


366     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

how  shall  he  not  with  him  freely  give  us  all  things  ? 
Shall  he  not  give  the  body  which  is  the  tempk  of 
the  Holy  Ghost  ?  And  if  he  give  the  body  must  he 
not  raise  it  from  the  grave  ?  If  the  bodies  of  the 
righteous  rise  not,  Divine  mercy  must  be  less  effica- 
cious than  Divine  justice ;  but  this  cannot  be  recon- 
ciled with  the  known  attributes  of  God.  If  mercy 
be  less  efficacious  than  justice,  how  could  the  claim 
of  justice  be  satisfied  with  the  interposition  of  mer- 
cy ?  How,  in  this  case,  on  the  score  of  redemption, 
could  mercy  begin  to  operate,  and  bring  the  culprit 
from  darkness  to  light,  and  from  hell  to  heaven? 
These  circumstances  prove  the  superior  efficacy  of 
mercy,  and  serve  to  point  out  the  unbounded  love  of 
God.  The  v.rhole  stream  of  redemption  points  out 
tmto  us  the  infinitude  of  Divine  love,  and  places  the 
compassion  of  God  in  a  most  exalted  light.  Re-" 
demption  gives  us  every  thing  to  hope ;  it  leaves 
nothing  to  fear  ;  it  promises  to  give  us  all  things : 
and  consequently,  will  raise  tlie  body,  though  it 
moulder  in  the  tomb. 

If  ihen  the  efficacy  of  mercy  be  equal  to  that  of 
justice,  and  even  superior  when  we  view  it  in  re- 
demption ;  and  if  justice  ensures  to  the  finally  im- 
penitent, a  resurrection  of  their  bodies  from  the  dust 
of  death ;  the  evidence  becomes  convincing,  that 
the  bodies  of  the  righteous  shall  rise  again. 

If  then  the  bodies  of  the  wicked  shall  rise  again, 
through  justice,  and  the  bodies  of  the  righteous 
through  mercy  ;  the  gra^^e  must  give  up  her  dead, 
»nd  the  sea  must  give  up  the  dead  which  are  therein  5 


Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  36f 

SO  that  not  a  single  body  can  remain  to  people  the 
territories  of  death.  For,  since  the  righteous  and 
the  wicked  include  the  whole  of  the  human  race, 
and  these  must  respectively  rise  again ;  the  argu- 
ment taken  in  both  its  parts,  includes  Adam  and  all  • 
his  posterity  in  one  enlarged  embrace. 

Through  every  department  of  the  gospel,  the 
beams  of  mercy  appear  to  benefit  mankind.  We 
cannot  therefore  suppose,  that  tlie  gift  of  God  could 
ever  be  designed  to  neglect  that  body,  which  even 
justice  would  restore  again  to  life.  It  is  peculiar  to 
mercy  to  excite  our  hopes,  and  to  enliven  us  with 
confidence ;  while  love^  calculated  to  awaken  our 
aflfections  in  proportion  to  our  conviction  of  benefits 
received,  either  in  reality  or  promise,  fills  our  minds 
with  the  fullest  persuasion  thSt  no  deception  can 
finally  blast  our  views. 

The  strong  intimations  which  the  production  of 
grain  affords  us  of  an  approaching  resurrection,  have 
been  already  noticed :  and  those  clianges  which 
birds  and  reptiles,  and  insects,  and  animalcula  un- 
dergo, it  would  be  almost  endless  to  enumerate. 
Yet  every  change  which  we  perceive  in  either  state,, 
is  a  change  which  verges  towards  perfection  in  all 
its  parts.  The  revolution  which  animal  life  under- 
goes, in  different  seasons  of  the  year,  and  in  different 
stages  of  its  being,  always  conducts  the  creature 
which  sustains  the  change  to  a  more  exalted  state 
than  that  which  it  had  forsaken.  Even  the  earth 
itself  becomes  renewed  with  vigour,  tlirough  those 
variations  which  mark  her  progress  round  the  sun ; 


368      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

and  we  are  taught  from  constant  observation,  that 
the  perfection  of  created  beings  and  things  does  not 
so  much  consist  in  permanency,  as  in  perpetual 
change.  Perfection  in  a  state  of  permanency  seems 
only  applicable  to  God.  To  him  no  future  pros- 
pects can  appear ;  and  however  strange  it  may 
seem,  it  is  one  of  the  perfections  of  God  that  in  him 
hope  cannot  exist.  On  the  contrary,  if  hope  were 
now  taken  from  the  ingredients  of  the  cup  of  life,  we 
should  have  nothing  left  behind  but  the  bitterness 
of  despair.  We  may  learn  from  hence,  that  tlic 
perfection  of  Deity  is  contrary  to  the  perfection  of 
man  ;  that,  of  the  former,  must  consist  in  indepen- 
dence and  stability ;  and  that  of  the  latter,  in  de- 
pendence and  change. 

The  process  of  vegetation,  to  which  the  resun'cc- 
tion  of  the  body  has  been  compared  by  St.  Paul, 
lias  also  been  touched  upon  by  the  prophet  Isaiah, 
in  his  twenty- sixth  chapter.  He  says  in  verse  the 
nineteenth.  Thy  dead  men  shall  live^  together  with 
my  dead  body  shall  they  ai'ise.  Awake  and  sing, 
ye  that  dwell  in  the  dust,  Jar  thy  dexv  is  as  the  dew 
of  herbs,  and  the  earth  shall  cast  out  her  dead. 

The  Jews  were  not  insensible  of  the  analog}*  to 
the  vegetative  process,  which  these  words  contain  ; 
and  the  influence  of  their  persuasions  led  them  to 
conclude  from  the  passage  above  quoted,  that  a  re- 
surrection of  the  body  would  finally  take  place. 
**  To  this,  say  the  Jews,  (as  Mr.  Gregor}^  observes)  in 
the  book  Zohar,  That  at  the  last  day  a  kind  of  plastic 
dew  shall   fall  upon  the  dead,  and  engender  with 


Sect.  II.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY  369 

■LiiZy*   a  little  bone ;   and  so  dut  of  this  all  the  rest 
of  our  bones,  and  the  whole  man  shall  spring  forth." 

*  In  tlie  course  of  writing  this  essay,  a  variety  of  difficulties 
occurred  to  my  mind  on  many  topics,  which  it  became  rxeces- 
sary  for  me  to  touch.  Unwilling  to  venture  too  far  dn  my  owii 
opinion,  I  have  proposed  my  questionable  points  to  som^ 
learned  friends,  with  v/hom  I  have  both  the  happiness  and  ho- 
nour to  be  acquainted.  To  some  of  these  questions  I  have  re- 
ceived satisfactory  answers;  answers  which  have  given  me 
considerable  information,  and  urged  me  to  perseverance  in  my 
undertaking.  At  other  times,  where  I  have  not  received  any 
considerable  information,  a  concurrence  of  opinion  has  tended 
to  strengthen  my  own ;  a  solitary  hint  has  tended  to  confirm 
me  in  my  former  habits  of  reflection,  and  given  a  decided  bias 
to  a  sentiment  which  before  only  wavered  in  suspense. 

On  the  subject  to  which  this  note  refers,  I  beg  leave  to  pre- 
sent my  readers  with  an  extract  of  a  letter,  which  1  received 
from  my  much  respected  friend.  Dr.  Adam  Clarke,  "  That 
there  is  a  radical  material  principle,  or  germ,  in  the  human 
body,  which  constitutes  its  identity,  1  cannot  doubt.  If  I  am 
not  mistaken,  I  see  this  laid  down,  and  not  obscurely,  in  the  sa- 
cred writings  ;  and  that  it  has  been  a  very  ancient  doctrine  of 
the  most  ancient  people  in  the  world,  I  have  plenary  evidence. 
How  the  Jews  may  have  trifled  vnth  it,  is  of  small  concern  to 
the  grand  object  of  inquiry  ;  but  that  they  held  the  thing.,  and 
even  pretended  to  say  in  what  it  consisted,  are  notoriously  evi- 
dent from  their  oldest  writings,  the  sacred  scriptures  excepted. 
"  Now,  as  a  copy  implies  an  original  from  which  it  was  made, 
so  an  opinion  of  this  kind,  which  evidently  lies  beyond  the 
bounds  of  human  inquiry,  seems  to  indicate  that  there  was  an 
original  revelation,  or  authentic  tradition,  concerning  the  thing 
in  question.  Lest  the  Jewish  opinion,  and  the  evidence  by 
which  it  is  supported  (to  which  I  have  alluded  above,)  should 
i)ot  come  within  yoirr  notice,  I  will  here  givo  it  as  much  io 
detail  as  I  judge  necessary  for  your  purpose. 
D  dd 


370     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

"  But  we  are  not  to  give  heed  to  Jewish  fables, 
and  therefore  it  shall  not  be  here  inquired,  who 
shall  be  the  father  of  this  rain,  or  should  beget  these 
drops  of  dew  ;  sure  we  are,  that  though  touched  by- 
death  we  shrink  up  like  the  sensitive  plant ;  yet  we 
shall  soon  be  quickened  by  his  influence,  whose 
head  is  Jilled  with  dew,  and  his  locks  with  the  dew 
of  the  night. ''^ 

"  In  exprobation,  therefore,  unto  death  and  mor- 
tality, we  know  whose  custom  it  was  to  bury  their 
dead  in  their  gardens  ;  sewing  their  bodies  with  as 
much  faith  as  their  fruits,  and  equally  expecting  the 
spring  of  both.  It  is  for  no  other  reason  that  we 
ourselves  stick  our  hearses  with  flowers,  and  go 
forth  to  the  grave  with  rosemary.  Our  precedents 
were  the  Jews,   whose  ancient  custom  it  was  by  the 

The  Chaldee  word  Luz  itb  which  signifies  an  almond,  al' 
inond  treey  and  the  hazel,  is  also  used  by  the  Rabbins  to  signify 
a  certain  bone  in  the  human  skeleton,  which  is  incorruptible,  and, 
out  of  which  they  sufi/iose  the  resurrection  body  will  be  formed. 

"  In  the  talmudical  tract  called  Zohar,  we  find  the  following 
curious  assertions  concerning  this  point. 

"  Behold  a  certain  bolie  which  remains  incorruptible  in  man, 
even  under  the  earth,  this  bone  is  like  a  mass  of  leaven,  and  by- 
it  the  holy  and  blessed  God  shall  re-edify  the  whole  body. 

"  Rabbi  Eliezar  says,  Luz  is  one  of  the  bones  of  the  human 
spine,  which  cannot  be  consumed,  and  -never  can  corrupt ;  the 
radix  of  the  bone  is  from  heaven  itself,  and  is  moistened  with 
<iew,  out  of  which  God  shall  sometime  call  the  dead  to  life.  It 
is  as  leaven  in  the  mass  of  meal. 

<'  In  \i  Rabbinical  le^xicon,  termed  Baal  Aruch,  it  is  said, 
Luz  is  a  small  bone  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  vetebre  :  the 
whole  body  goes  into  corruption,  this  bone  excepted.  It  is 
girnilur  to  an  almond. 


Sect.  II.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  3^1 

Way  as  they  went  with  corpses,  to  pluck  up  every 
one,  the  grass,  as  who  should  say,  they  were  not 
sorry  as  men  without  hope ;   for  as  much  as  their 

*.'  In  Vayikra  Rabba,  section  eighteenth,  Yalcut  on  the 
twelfth  chapter  of  Ecclesiastes,  are  the  following  words : 
*  Hadrian  Csezar  asked  Rabbi  Joshua,  the  ison  of  Chanina, 
'  How  can  God  raise  up  man  in  the  world  to  come  V  Rabbi 
Joshua  answered,  '  From  the  bone  Luz  out  of  the  spine.* 
'' Hoiv  can  I  be  assured  of  this-^  says  Hadrian  ?*  '  They  thea 
brought  one  of  these  bones  before  him,  on  which  they  poured 
■water,  but  it  was  not  softened  thereby  ;  they  put  it  in  the  fir®, 
but  it  was  not  burnt ;  they  put  it  between  millstones,  but  it 
was  not  reduced  to  powder.  They  placed  it  on  an  anvil,  and 
struck  it  with  a  hammer,  but  though  the  anvil  was  split  with 
the  blow,  yet  the  bone  received  no  injury.' 

"  In  Bereshith  Rabba  (a  large  commentary  on  the  book 
of  Genesis)  section  twenty-eighth,  the  same  thing  is  related,  and 
it  is  added  there — <  that  in  order  to  prevent  the  wicked  ante- 
diluvians from  the  benefit  of  the  resurrection,  the  holy  and 
blessed  God  universally  destroyed  the  bone  Luz.'  So  much 
for  the  Jewish  trifling  on  the  subject. 

"  The  bone  which  is  intended  in  the  above  quotations,  is 
evidently  the  os  coccygis,  the  lower  small  terminating  bone  of 
the  spme.  Would  it  not  be  worth  while  to  let  the  Rabbins 
lead  us  to  the  grave-yard,  that  we  might  search  and  see  whe- 
ther this  bone  be  found  remaining  after  the  dissolution  of  the 
rest  ?  That  the  ancient  Jews  held  the  things  is  all  I  wished 
to  prove  ;  their  trifling  on  the  subject  does  not  aff"ect  the 
ground  of  the  inquiry.     See  Buxtorf's  Lex.  voc.  n'^. 

"  Whether  this  germ  be  in  the  os  coccygis  or  not,  it  is  cer- 
tainly somewhere,  though  probably  not  so  apparent  as  in  the 
Rabbinical  Luz. 

"  Permit  me  to  add,  the  doctrine  of  germs  .has  opened  a  new 
world  of  wonders  in  philosophy ;  it  has  developed  a  multitude 
of  things  previously  inscrutable,  in  organized  vegetable  sub- 
stances ; — why  may  it  not  be  extended  to  organized  animal 
matter  ?  From  their  inherent  germs  it  is  demonstrable,  tiiat 


3r2'    IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

brother  was  but  so  cropped  off  and  should  spring  up 
again  in  his  due  season. 

"We  may  take  an  omen  (continues  Gregory)  of 
our  rising  again,  from  the  time  of  our  Saviour's 
resurrection.  The  first  fruits  rose  in  the  spring, 
which  is  the  time  (saith  Senator  Manilius)  wherein 
the  phoenix  riseth  out  of  her  ashes.  It  is  the  time 
also  wherein  the  Egyptians  celebrate  their  annual 
resurrection.  We  shall  take  this,  however,  but  as  a 
staff  of  Egypt,  a  broken  reed,  or  but  such  an  one  as 
Gehazi  laid  upon  the  dead  child.  But  the  Master 
cometh  shortly,  and  shall  command  the  breath  to 
come  from  the  four  winds,  and  breatlie  upon  our 
slain;  and  then  these  bones  shall  live."  {Sermon 
on  the  Resurrection,  by  Gregory,  p.   71.) 

It  is  to  this  powerful  and  invigorating  breath  of 
Heaven,  that  we  must  finally  look  for  that  awaken- 
ing energy,  which  shall  quicken  our  mortal  bodies, 
and  endow  them  with  strength  that  shall  know  no 
decay.  For,  although  in  pursuing  the  subject  of 
our  inquiry,  the  process  of  nature  holds  out  unto  us 
an  example,  which  shews  the  way,  and  which,  in  all 
probability,  supplies  us  with  an  analogy  complete 
in  all  its  parts,  yet  the  quickening  power  belongs  to 
God. 

Tlie  power  of  action  in  all  possible  forms,  must 
have  originated,  and  must  continue  to  originate  in 

the  identity  of  plants  is  preserved  ;  analogy  says,  it  may  be 
the  same  in  organized  animal  substances. 

"  For  a  further  confirmation  of  the  opinion  of  the  Jews  on 
the  resurrection,  see  2  Maccabees,  vii.  v.  9,  11,  1 4,  22,  23," 


afect.  II.}         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  375 

God*  The  laws  of  nature  are  only  mediums 
through  which  he  acts.  Vegetation  is  a  display  of 
infinite  power,  directing  its  energy  through  second 
causes,  which  sometimes,  to  a  superficial  observer, 
conceals  the  real  efiicient  cause.  But,  the  hand  of 
God  is  really  as  much  present  in  these  common 
events,  as  in  those,  in  which  no  natural  cause  ap- 
pears. And,  when  we  speak  of  the  works  of  na- 
ture^ and  of  die  works  of  God,  the  only  distinction 
which  can  really  exist,  is,  that  in  the  former  case, 
God  works  by  means,  and  in  the  latter  without 
them.  But  whether  means  be  used  or  not,  the  ac- 
tive power  must  be  ascribed  to  God. 

When,  tlierefore,  we  thus  take  a  survey  of  the  Al- 
mighty God,  and  consider  him  as  possessed  of  infi- 
nite power,  of  infinite  Justice,  Goodfiess,  Holine^, 
Mercy,  and  Love,  and  view  him  in  all  these  attri- 
butes, manifesting  himself  towards  mankind,  our 
hopes  are  not  presumptuous,  if  they  lead  us  to  ex- 
pect, that  God  will  raise  the  dead. 

Under  those  circumstances  on  which  God  has 
been  pleased  to  place  us,  we  must  stifle  our  convic- 
tions, and  argue  against  our  own  persuasions ;  ifj 
alter  having  examined  those  intimations  which  are 
placed  within  our  reach,  we  refuse  our  assent  to  the 
important  fact.  That  such  an  event  is  at  once  pos- 
sible and  congenial  to  our  feelings,  to  our  wishes 
and  our  hopes,  we  must  admit ;  it  therefore  has  in 
it  greater  weight  than  those  objections  by  which  it 
can  be  opposed. 

But  our  knowledge  of  the  possibility  of  a  fact, 
even  though  it  should  coincide  with  our  wishes  and 


374     IDENTITY  A>rt)  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

our  hopes,  is  far  from  being  conclusive  ;  the  mind 
fluctuates  in  indecision  on  such  an  occasion,  and 
seeks  after  other  evidence  to  fix  it  at  a  point.  A 
train  of  probable  circumstances  is  ready  at  hand, 
drawn  from  our  most  obvious  concerns,  and  from 
scenes  with  which  v/e  are  daily  con%'ersant.  Pro- 
babilities swarm  around  us  on  every  side.  Vegeta- 
tive and  animal  life  give  us  examples,  which  are  in 
unison  with  our  expectations  ;  and  the  attributes  of 
God  confirm  the  convictions,  which  probable  evi- 
dence begets.  But,  evidence  of  a  more  command- 
ing nature  still  remains ;  it  is  superior  in  its  effi- 
cacy, but  congenial  in  its  kind  with  what  we  have 
already  seen,  and  it  presents  itself  before  us  in  the 
next  section. 

SECT.  III. 

That  the  Resurrection  of  the  Human  Body  is 
certain^  proved  from  the  Principles  of  Philoso- 
phy^ the  Justice  of  God,  and  the  compounded 
Nature  of  Man. 

We  have  said,  in  the  preceding  section,  that  wc 
can  have  no  satisfactory  conceptions  of  the  Divine 
justice,  without  having  recourse  to  another  life  ; 
and  we  can  have  no  conception  of  another  life,  with- 
out including  in  that  idea,  those  rewards  and  punish- 
ments \\  Inch  await  the  righteous  and  the  guilty  in 
those  awful  abodes. 

Rewards  and  punishments  are  intimately  connect- 


Sect.  III.]  OP  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  S7S 

ed  with  the  attributes  of  God  ;  and  the  same  argu- 
ments which  will  prove  that  man  is  a  moral  agent, 
will  prove  that  he  must  survive  the  grave.  The 
manner  of  our  future  being  is,  therefore,  the  only 
question  which  can  now  remain ;  because  the  fact 
itself  is  too  obvious  to  be  denied. 

If  rewards  and  punishments  be  administered  be- 
yond the  grave,  they  must  be  administered  to  man  ; 
and  if  to  rnan,  both  body  and  soul  must  be  pre- 
served, because,  both  natures  are  essentially  neces- 
sary to  his  existence.  The  identity  of  our  persons 
consists  in  the  union  of  our  compounded  nature; 
this  identity  must  therefore  be  lost,  if  the  whole  of 
our  corporeal  frames  are  permitted  for  ever  to 
moulder  in  the  regions  of  dissolution,  or  are  tossed 
with  the  winds  of  heaven.  The  resurrection  of  our 
bodies  is,  therefore,  the  necessary  result  of  our  be- 
ing ;  and  unless  we  take  it  into  our  account,  v/c 
leave  the  nature  of  man  in  a  state  as  remote  from 
?mtiiral  perfection,  as  we  place  the  justice  of  God 
in  a  moral  point  of  view,  if  neither  rewards  nor 
punishments  succeed  to  the  present  life. 

Our^  souls  and  bodies  are  so  intimately  connect- 
ed in  the  present  life,  that  they  mutually  infiuence 
each  other ;  and  through  that  secret  union  which 
subsists  between  them,  they  perform  a  variety  of 
actions,  of  which,  neither  soul  nor  body  was,  nor  can 
be,  capable  in  its  separate  state.  The  supposition, 
therefore,  which  induces  us  to  believe,  that  the  soul 
alone  shall  be  either  rewarded  or  punished,  in  ano- 
ther life,  for  actions,  which  as  a  simple  substance,  it 
jneither  did  nor  could  pos^bly  commit,  is  not  only 


^76     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

irreconcileable  with  our  conception  of  equity,  but 
utterly  repugnant  to  every  principle  of  justice.  If, 
therefore,  rewards  and  punishments  be  administered 
in  another  life,  they  must  be  administered  to  man  ; 
and  if  administered  to  man,  to  whose  being  the 
union  of  matter  and  spirit  is  essentially  necessary, 
the  body  must  survive  the  grave. 

If  the  soul  alone,  upon  a  principle  of  retributive 
justice,  can  be  either  rewarded  or  punished  in  ano- 
ther life,  for  actions,  which,  separated  from  the 
bodv,  it  could  not  possibly  commit ;  justice  must 
disproportiojt  the  punishment  to  the  offence ;  be- 
cause in  this  case,  the  punishment  is  for  all  the  ac- 
tion while  the  crime  consisted  only  in  part.  Li  this 
view,  we  behold  more  punishment  than  crime  ;  and 
consequently,  the  surplus  of  punishment  cannot  be 
just.  If  then,  a  single  iota  of  punishment  can  be 
inflicted  without  an  adequate  proportion  of  offence, 
punishment  may  be  inflicted  where  there  is  no 
crime  ;  and  to  siippose  tliis  to  proceed  from  a  prin- 
ciple of  divine  justice,  we  are  under  the  necessity  of 
making  justice  to  become  unjust.  But,  since  it  is 
impossible  that  justice  can  become  unjust,  it  must 
also  be  impossible,  that  justice  can  inflict  punish- 
ment  Avithout  a  crime  ;  and  since  punishment  can- 
not be  inflicted  without  crime,  punishment  cannot 
be  disproportioned  to  the  offence ;  and  as  punish- 
ment cannot  be  disproportioned  to  the  offence,  no 
punishment  can  be  inflicted  upon  the  soul  for  those 
actions  which  it  could  not  possibly  commit.  We 
arc,  therefore,  brought  to  this  alternative,  either, 
that  no  rewards  and  punishments  sliail  be  adminis. 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUINIAN  BODY.  377 

tered,  or  that  the  body  must  rise  again.  That  re- 
wards and  punishments  must  be  administered,  is  a 
necessary  consequence  of  justice  ;  and  the  instant 
that  we  deny  it,  we  make  justice  to  have  no  more 
than  an  arbitrary  existence  in  God.  If  arbitrary, 
it  may  be  dispensed  with,  and  when  dispensed  with, 
God  becomes  unjust  ;  but,  as  this  is  absolutely  im- 
possible, the  consequence  follows,  that  justice  is 
inseparable  from  the  Divine  nature  ;  that  rewards 
and  punishments  must  be  administered ;  and  the 
final  effect  is,  that  the  human  body  must  be  raised 
again. 

To  this  argument  I  am  not  apprized  of  more  than 
one  objection,  and  that  is,  *'that  the  rewards  and 
punishments  which  will  be  administered  to  the  soul, 
will  only  be  in  proportion  to  its  own  piety  or  crimi- 
nality, considered  in  a  detached  view,  without  having 
any  relation  to  the  body." 

This  objection  has  been  already  anticipated,  and 
already  answered  in  the  preceding  section.  I  will 
state  the  outlines  of  that  reply,  in  direct  application 
to  the  objection  which  has  been  started. 

If  the  punishments  which  are  inflicted  upon  the 
soul,  have  no  relation  to  those  crimes  which  in  its 
union  with  the  body  only  it  was  able  to  commit,  it 
then  follows,  that  a  portion  of  punishment  still  con- 
tinues in  reserve.  And  this  punishment  which  re- 
mains in  reserve,  must  either  be  applicable  to  the 
body  alone,  or  to  the  soul  and  body  in  'union  with 
each  other ;  because,  upon  this  ground  alone,  the 
objection  is  called  forth.  From  this  statement,  it 
Ee  e 


378     IDENTITY  ANI>  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VIL 

undeniably  follows,  eklier  that  this  portion  of  pu- 
'  nishment  which  remains  in  reserve,  must  never  be 
inflicted,  or  that  the  body  must  be  agaia  restored  to 
life. 

Having  brought  the  argument  to  this  state,  a  sim-- 
ple  process  will  decide  tlie  affair.  The  punishment 
which  lies  in  reserve,  must  either  be  due,  or  it  must 
not.  If  due,  justice  cannot  withhold  it ;  and  there- 
fore, whether  we  consider  the  body  separately,  or 
in  union  with  the  soul,  it  must  experience  a  resur- 
rection ;  if  not  due,  the  foundation  of  the  objection 
is  totally  destroyed,  and  the  former  argument  re- 
mains in  all  its  force.  And  the  final  consequence  is, 
whether  we  admit  the  objection  or  reject  it,  that  a 
resurrection  of  the  body  must  take  place.  In  ad- 
mitting the  objection,  the  answer  which  has  been 
given  must  follow  ;  and  in  rejecting  it,  the  original 
argument  is  unassailed, 

Tliat  God  is  uniformly  governed  by  the  rectitude 
of  his  nature,  can  no  more  be  doubted,  than  we  can 
doubt  of  his  existence  ;  nothing,  therefore,  which  is 
done  by  him,  can  possibly  be  unjust.  The  union 
of  our  souls  and  bodies  in  time,  when  viewed  in  re- 
lation to  the  Divine  nature,  ensures  a  renewal  of 
that  union  in  eternity.  Justice  is  an  immutable 
principle,  which  no  power  can  alter,  no  language 
overturn.^  If  our  actions  here,  either  subject  us  to 
punishment,  or  entitle  us  to  reward,  it  cannot  be 
withheld  ;  if  they  do  not,  neither  the  former  nor  the 
latter  can  be  administered  consistently  with  justice. 


^ect.  m.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  379 

and  that  Which  cannot  be  done  consistently  with  jus- 
4;Lce,  cannot  come  from  God. 

The.body.inust  be  implicated  in  this  decision,  as 
well  as  t^he  soul.  In  conjunction  with  the  soul,  it 
jjarticipated  in  actions  which  invoh^ed  moral  conse- 
.quences.;  and  justice  can  no  more  be  remiss  in  the 
fone  case  than  in  the  other.  In  its  nature,  it  must  be 
of  universal  application;  ^id  ,can.know  no  distinc' 
tion  between  &pirit  and  matter.  Its  vigilance  must 
.be  unremitting;  and  from  these  views  which  we 
have  of  its  nature,  it  must  be  equally  remote  from 
partiality  and  neglect.  And,  if  neither  partiality  nor 
neglect  can  apply  to  Divine  justice,  ;it  must  extend 
to  the  human  body,  because  the  human  body  is  a 
subject  of  it ;  the  plain  consequence  therefore,  is, 
that  the  human  body,  though  consigned  to  corruption 
for  a  season,  must  finally  leave  the  mansions  of  the 
dead. 

Whether,  in  accomplishing  this  great  event,  God 
sliail  be  pleased  to  act  through,  the  instrumentality 
of  means,  or  without  any  medium,  is  a  question  that 
has  only  a  distant  connexion  with  the  fact.  In  either 
case,  as  his  power  is  infinite,  nothing  can  yield  ob- 
sti'uctions ;  and  the  utmost  tliat  can  be  said  is,  that 
tlie  fact  itself  may  be  more  or  less  difficult  to  com- 
prehend. 

In  our  present  region  there  are  various  laws 
prescribed  to  nature,  beyond  the  boundaries  of 
which  we  dare  not  pass ;  but  when  the  present 
state  shall  give  place  unto  another,  it  is  natural  to 
conceive  that  the  boundaries  of  our  existence  will 
be  enlarged.     God,  without  all  doubt,  may   give 


380      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

hereafter  to  compounded,  as  well  as  to  simple  bo- 
dies, such  modifications  of  existence,  as  human 
eye  hath  not  seen,  nor  ear  heard,  and  which  have 
not  entered  into  the  heart  of  man  to  conceive. 
And,  when  that  period  shall  arrive,  when  the  pre- 
sent system  of  things  shall  be  no  more,  some  laws 
of  nature,  new  to  man,  which  have  been  concealed 
from  eternity,  may.  make  their  appearance,  through 
those  revolutions  which  we  are  now  supposing. 
And  by  thus  unfolding  themselves,  and  acting  in 
concert  with  these  laws  of  nature  which  have  been 
the  guides  of  the  human  race  for  nearly  six  thou- 
sand years ;  they  may  give  such  a  bias  to  the  whole 
system  of  created  beings,  as  may  produce  that  final 
restitution  of  things,  which  we  are  taught  to  expect 
both  from  nature  and  the  word  of  God. 

Without  all  doubt,  the  present  laws  of  nature 
emanate  from  the  Divine  mind,  and  are  a  transcript 
of  himself.  Unless  we  admit  this,  we  can  have  no 
conception  how  they  could  otherwise  exist ;  and  in 
admitting  this,  as  the  Divine  nature  is  immutable, 
we  can  have  no  conception  that  these  laws,  as  to 
their  essence,  can  ever  be  destroyed.  They  may 
change  in  a  variety  of  forms,  but  their  essence  will 
still  remain  the  same ;  their  parts  may  be  accom- 
modated to  time,  or  they  may  be  accommodated 
to  eternity;  yet  nothing  can  be  inferred  from 
thence,  that  the  resurrection  is  improbable  in  point 
of  fact.  Even,  assuming  this  fact  as  the  ground- 
work of  our  belief,  that  the  laws  of  nature,  as  to 
their  essence,  never  can  be  destroyed,  hut  that 
under  such  modifications  as  xve  cannot  easily  con- 


Sect.  III.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  SSI 

ceive,  they  must  exist  for  ever  ;  instead  of  behold- 
ing any  thing  absurd  to  follow,  we  can  conceive 
the  resurrection  to  be  both  a  reasonable  and  highly 
probable  fact.  And  those  evidences  which  have 
been,  and  which  will  be  adduced,  being  erected 
upon  this  foundation,  and  permitted  by  the  removal 
of  all  obstructions  to  operate  in  all  their  vigour, 
can  hardly  fail  to  produce  that  conviction  which 
results  from  certainty,  when  it  makes  an  impression 
on  the  mind. 

From  these  new  changes,  suspensions  and  addi- 
tions, Avhich  the  present  laws  of  nature  will  in  all 
probability  undergo,  what  wonders  may  we  not 
expect !  The  mind  is  launched  upon  an  unbounded 
ocean,  in  which  all  our  calculations  are  confounded ; 
nature  recedes  in  part  from  our  views,  and  we  arc 
wafted  to  the  margin  of  a  future  world.  The  body 
which  shall  be  raised  must  be  removed  from  those 
impediments  which  now  encumber  it ;  and  we  may 
there  survey  it  in  its  abstracted  state.  In  itself  it 
must  be  material,  because  none  of  the  essential 
properties  of  any  substance  can  be  lost,  while  that 
substance  remains.  All  matter  is  inert ;  it  there- 
fore can  have  no  tendencies ;  and  that  which  has  no 
tendencies,  and  is  removed  from  the  reach  of  all 
foreign  influence,  is  in  a  station  which  it  must  con- 
tinue to  preserve.  And  even,  though  we  suppose 
our  future  bodies  to  be  formed  of  such  parts,  as 
those  which  comppse  our  present ;  yet  under  these 
circumstances  which  have  been  stated,  and  which 
must  be  supposed  to  exist,  the  body  can  never 
incline  to  a  state  of  dissolution.     And,  therefore, 


38.2     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VIL 

from  the  at^uments  which  have  been  advanced,  we 
have  a  strong  presumption,   not  only  that  the  body 
will  be  restored  to  life,  t)ut  that  those  particles  of 
'which  it  shall  be  composed  must  adhere  for  ever. 

That  the  human  soul  is  appointed  to  continue  for 
•ever,  is  a  point  deducible  from  its  nature  and  pro- 
perties ;  and  therefore  we  can  have  no  conception, 
that  any  simple  essence  can  perish.  And  since 
■such  an  essencemust  be  placed  beyond  the  influence 
of  mutation  and  decay ;  all  essences,  of  which  the 
soul  is  one,  must  continue  through  eternity.  '^But 
these  observations  are  exclusively  applicable  to 
tlie  human  soul,  without  having  any  reference  to 
the  body. 

To  form  the  eiitire  man,  not  only  the  soul,  but 
the  body  also  must  be  preserved ;  which  can  easily 
be  affected  by  Almighty  power,  though  the  waj^s 
through  which  it  shall  be  accomplished  are  to  us  at 
-present  totally  unknown.  The  necessit}'-,  therefore, 
of  the  resurrection  of  the  body  arises  from  the'  im- 
possibility  of  contimmig  man  without  it. 

If  the  body  of  man  be  necessaiy  to  the  conthiu- 
once  of  man,  either  the  human  body  must  be  pre- 
served from  the  power  of  death,  or  it  must  finally 
be  delivered  from  its  influence.  These  are  the 
only  ways,  through  which  we  can  presume  that 
man  can  continue  for  ever.  The  former  of  these 
cases  is  contradicted  by  flict;  because  all  must  pay 
the  debt  of  nature,  and  sink  alike  mto  the  melan- 
choly abodes  of  death.  The  doctrine  of  the  resur- 
rection is,  therefore,  a  necessary  consequence  of  the 
compounded  nature  of  man  ;  and  is  intimately  con- 


Sect.  Ills}         OP  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  3»3 

nected  with  the  preservation  of  his  being  in  a  com- 
pounded state,  through  eternity. 

A  being,  that  is  destined  to  continue  for  ever, 
whateveif  be  the  internal  constitution  of  it&  nature, 
must,  if  it  be. the  same,  preserve  every  property 
which  is  essential  to  its  nature  ;  it  is  only  this  that 
can  give  it  stability  of  being,  and  constitute  the 
identity  of  its  nature,  whether  simple  in  itself,  or 
compounded  of  parts.  If,  therefore,  we  apply  this 
doctrine  to  man,  and  suppose  that  out  of  two  dis- 
tinct natures,  which  are  inseparable  from  him  in  his 
present  state,  one  shall  be  entirely  lost ;  that  por- 
tion which  survives  the  loss  can  only  have  a  partial 
existence ;  it  is  no  longer  the  same  that  it  was 
before,  but  quite  another.  It  may  exist  completely 
as  a  separate  spirit,  but  a  separate  spirit  is  not 
man.  As  man,  the  existence  can  be  but  partial ; 
and  in  proportion  to  the  loss  which  it  has  sustained, 
the  real  essence  must  be  changed.  From  these 
considerations  it  therefore  appears,  that  though  the 
soul  survives  the  ravages  of  death,  and  is,  from  the 
peculiarity  of  its  nature,  placed  beyond  the  reach 
of  dissolution  ;  the  man  must  be  for  ever  lost. 

A  beingj  which  includes  in  its  essence  two  dis- 
tinct natures,  must,  if  it  survive  the  grave,  preserve 
both ;  and  if  either  be  lost,  that  wliich  survives  can 
no  more  be  the  being  which  was,  than  that  is  which 
is  lost.  It  can  neither  be  the  same,  in  essential 
properties^  in  essence^  or  in  identity  of  being ;  nor 
can  we  conceive  the  same  being  to  have  any  exist- 
ence, while  we  admit,  that  one  part  which  was, 
and  still  is  necessary  to  its  being,  is  for  ever  de- 


384     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

stroyed.  The  instant,  therefore,  that  the  union  be- 
tween matter  and  spirit  is  dissolved,  the  complex 
idea  of  man  must  perish ;  and  unless  a  resurrection 
of  his  body  take  place,  7nan  can  exist  no  more. 

Under  these  views  of  man,  the  peculiar  modifi- 
cation of  his  future  body  can  have  no  connection 
with  our  thougiits.  We  inquire  not  here,  whether 
all  those  particles,  which  were  once  vitally  united 
to  the  system,  or  whether  the  majority  of  those 
which  were  deposited  in  the  grave,  shall  constitute 
the  body  hereafter ;  these  and  other  modes  of  pos- 
sible beings  are  distinct  questions.  But  certain  it  is, 
that  not  only  the  identity  of  spirit,  but  the  identity 
of  man  most  continue  hereafter ;  and  while  we  ad- 
mit the  body  to  be  a  necessary  part  of  man,  we 
cannot  avoid  this  conclusion,  that  the  body  must 
be  again  restored  to  life,  and  vitally  united  to  the 
spirit:  though  it  may  be  by  ways  wliich  have  never 
yet  entered  into  human  thought. 

That  there  is  in  the  composition  of  man  both 
matter  and  spirit,  will  perhaps  admit  of  little  doubt ; 
because  these  distinct  natures  may  be  proved  by 
properties  which  are  distinct  from  one  another,  and 
peculiar  to  those  substances  in  which  they  inhere. 
The  tangibility  of  matter  will  prove,  beyond  the 
assistance  of  all  external  proof,  the  certainty  of  its 
existence,  and  leave  no  doubt  of  its  reality  upon  the 
human  mind.*     At  the  same  time,   that  conscious- 

*  The  existence  of  matter  is  self-evident,  and  no  self-evi- 
dent fact  can  possibly  admit  of  proof;  because  all  proof,  from 
its  nature,  must  be  more  evident  than  the  thing  is  in  itself. 
\vhich  is  about  to  be  proved.     Dear,  Berkehj  "vvas,  therefore:. 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  58s 

iiess  which  eveiy  -man  feels  within  himself,  and 
which  cannot  possibly  result  from  matter,  nor  from 
axxy  peculiar  modification  of  it,  will  as  clearly  as- 
certain the  existence  of  a  spiritual  substance,  through 
the  medium  of  proof,  as  tangibility  will  prove  the 
existence  of  matter.  And,  therefore,  without  en- 
tering further  into  the  evidences  of  these  substances, 
I  shall  conclude,  that  there  must  be  two  distinct  na- 
tures in  the  compound  of  man. 

In  our  present  inquiry,  we  ask  not  in  what  the 
identity  of  the  bodi/  consists,  nor  do  we  inquire  what 
it  is  that  constitutes  the  identity  of  the  soul ;  but,  as 
a  third  and  separate  point,  we  ask  what  it  is  that  con- 
stitutes the  identity  of  man  ?  These  are  distinct  sub- 
jects, and  must  therefore  be  kept  asunder.  We 
have  already  turned  our  thoughts  both  to  matter  and 
spirit;  and  in  the  preceding  paragraph,  we  have 
taken  a  survey  of  man.  The  soul  of  man  is  &. 
spiritual  substance ;  his  body  is  material ;  and 
man  is  a  compounded  being,  formed  of  these  two 
substances  united  together. 

If  then  the  identity  of  man  consists  in  the  union 

certainly  in  the  right,  when  he  asserted, "  that  the  existence  of 
matter  could  not  be  proved  by  argument."  But,  when  from 
thence  he  attempted  to  doubt  the  existence  of  matter,  he  fell 
into  an  absurdity,  which,  like  matter,  is  self-evident ; — an 
absurdity  which  cannot  well  be  refuted,  because  its  wvn  inter- 
nal evidence  is  more  forcible  than  any  proofs  which  can  be  ad- 
duced. The  truth  is,  self-evidence  is  the  first  species  of 
proof,  and  he  who  would  attempt  to  lender  it  conspicuous  by 
argument,  acts  like  him  who  would  light  a  candle  to  shew  us 
4he  sun. 

Ff  f 


386      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

of  these  distinct  natures;  death  must  destroy  the 
man,  though  the  body  and  soul  were  both  to  sur- 
vive in  a  separate  state.  The  existence  of  the 
material  part  is  but  the  existence  of  the  body,  and 
the  existence  of  the  soul  is  but  the  existence  of  the 
spirit ;  and  though  these  were  to  exist  in  a  state  of 
separation  from  each  other,  they  would  by  no 
means  prove  the  existence  of  the  man.  To  the 
existence  of  the  man  both  natures  are  essentially 
necessary ;  and  these  natures  must  exist  in  union 
with  each  other,  to  give  existence  to  vian^  and  to 
give  the  idea  of  that  existence  to  our  minds. 

As  then,  these  natures  are  separated  by  death, 
if  the  body  rise  not  again  from  the  dead,  the  iden- 
tity of  man  must  be  for  ever  lost ;  because  the 
identity  of  any  compounded  being  can  never  con- 
sist in  any  simple  nature,  which  is  evidently  but  a 
part  of  that  whole,  from  whence  we  first  obtained 
the  idea.  And,  if  the  identity  of  man  be  lost,  he 
can  never  be  the  same  being,  but  must  be  another ; 
for,  since  identity  can  no  more  be  transferred  from 
a  whole  to  a  part,  than  it  can  from  one  substance  to 
another,  or  from  one  system  of  organized  iwatter 
to  another;  that  part  which  survives  the  grave 
cannot  be  subjected  either  to  punishments  or  re- 
wards, for  those  actions  of  the  present  life,  which 
are  evidently  performed  by  man.  But,  since  those 
actions  which  are  performed  by  man,  are  evidently 
entitled  to  the  retributions  of  another  life,  the  iden- 
tity of  man  must  be  preserved.  And,  as  this 
identity  consists  in  an  union  of  two  distinct  natures, 
and  these  natures  are  separated  by  death;  it  fol- 


Sect.  III.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  387 

lows  that  a  reunion  must  necessarily  take  place 
again  between  them ;  and  therefore  the  human 
body  must  rise  from  the  grave. 

'If  the  essence  of  man  consists  in  the  union  of 
two  natures,  rewards  and  punishments  must  be 
administered  where  the  essence  of  man  is  not ;  if 
his  soul  be  made  susceptible  either  of  felicity  or  woe, 
in  either  of  these  capacities,  while  in  a  state  of  se- 
paration from  the  body.  But,  certain  it  is,  that 
rewards  and  punishments  which  are  due  to  man, 
can  never  be  applied  with  justice  where  the  essence 
of  man  is  not.  And,  since  rewards  and  punish- 
ments must  be  administered  by  justice,  and  these 
cannot  be  administered  in  respect  of  the  actions  of 
man,  wJiere  the  essence  of  man  is  not ;  it  follows, 
that  the  essence  of  man  must  be  preserved.  And, 
as  the  essence  of  man,  which  must  be  preserved, 
consists  in  the  union  of  those  natures  which  are  se- 
parated by  death,  these  natures  must  be  reunited, 
and  the  body  must  experience  a  resurrection  from 
the  grave. 

That  it  is  the  man,  and  not  his  soul,  nor  his  body 
separately  considered,  that  must  be  the  object  of 
those  rewards  and  punishments  which  await  us  in 
another  life,  is  evident  from  the  nature  of  those 
actions  which  are  now  performed.  Neither  soul 
nor  body  could  perform  a  variety  of  actions,  which 
distinguish  the  man;  they  result  from  his  com- 
pounded nature  ;  and  in  that  capacity,  must  stand 
in  relation  to  the  justice  of  God.  An  action,  per- 
formed by  a  compounded  being,   which  stands  in  re- 


5»8     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VIT. 

lation  to  justice,   can  only  have  a  connection  with 
justice  in   that  capacitt^  and   character.     But  this 
capacity^   in  a  separate  state,   the  soul  does  not  sus- 
tain ;   neither  does  it  appear   in  this  character^   du- 
ring that  period.   On  these  grounds,  neither  rewards 
nor  punishments  can  be  administered  immediately 
after   death  j   both  the  capacity  and  character^   to 
which  they  can  apply,   have  been   interrupted    by 
death ;    and   a   suspension   appears,  which  nothing 
but  the  resurrection  can  remove.     If,   therefore,  Ave 
deny  the  resurrection,    we  annihilate  a  capacity  for 
those  rewards  and  punishments,  which  we  admit  to 
be  just.     And  by  our  admitting  the  justice  of  re- 
wards and  punishments,   while  we  deny  a  capacity 
and   character  for  them  in  the  subject;   we  make 
death  to  defeat  tlie  purposes  of  justice,  and  to  coun- 
teract the  efficacy  of  that  power  which  is  admitted 
to   be  omnipotent^    But,  since  omnipotent  power 
cannot  possibly  be  defeated ;  justice  can  never  be 
defrauded  through  the  intervention  of  death.     And 
therefore,   though  death  suspends  that  capacity  and 
character,   to  which  alone  rewards  and  punishments 
can    apply,     neither   capacity   nor   character     can 
finally  be  destroyed.     Omnipotent  power  must  pre- 
vail at  last ;    and   capacity  and  character   must  be 
again   restored.     But,     as    capacity   and   character 
can  only  arise  from  the  union  of  those  natures,  which 
are  separated  by  death;    the  final  result  must  be, 
that  both  natures  shall  be  again  united,   and  there- 
fore the  body  must  rise  again. 

If  the  union  of  two  substances  be  necessary  to 
the  essence  of  any  given  being,   and  one  of  these 


Sect.  III.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  38? 

substances  may  be  removed,  while  the  essence  of  that 
being  remains  entire ;  neither  of  these  substances^ 
in  the  union  of  which  the  essence  of  that  being  was 
presumed  to  consist  can  be  necessary  to -its  exis- 
tence. For,  if  we  can  suppose,  that  out  of  two 
substances  which  bear  an  equal  share  in  constitu- 
ting its  essence  and  identity,  one  can  be  withdrawn, 
while  the  identity  and  essence  remain  uninjured  and 
entire ;  there  can  be  no  real  necessity  for  the  con- 
tinuance of  the  remaining  substance.  It  must  fol- 
low, by  an  inevitable  consequence,  that  neither  iden- 
tity nor  essence  can  be  any  more  impaired,  by  the 
removal  of  the  latter,  than  it  was  by  that  of  the 
former ;  because,  both  have  been  considered  as 
alike  necessary  to  the  existence  of  that  essence  of 
wliich  we  speak.  It  is  like  the  admitting  of  two 
eternal  powers,  which  must  inevitably  annihilate 
each  other.  If,  therefore,  both  substances  can  be 
removed,  while  the  essence  can  remain  we  must 
suppose,  that  the  essence  of  being  can  be  separated 
from  the  being  itself,  of  which  it  is  the  essence.  Ta 
admit,  therefore,  the  existance  of  a  being  whose  es- 
sence consists  in  the  union  of  two  distinct  substances, 
and  to  admit  at  the  same  time,  that  one,  and  even, 
both  of  these  substances  may- be  removed,  without 
injuring  the  essence,  which  we  had  previously  ad- 
mitted to  consist  in  the  union  of  these  substances 
which  are  now  separated,  is  a  species  of  absurdity :>. 
for  which  it  is  difficult  to  find  an  adequate  name. 

The  essence  of  being,  whether  individual  or  spe- 
cies, must  be  inseparable  from  that  being  ;  and  no 
longer  than  the  essence  continues  can  we  have  any 
conception  that  the  same  being  can  continue,  with- 


390     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

out  involving  ourselves  in  palpable  contradictions. 
The  removal  of  any  one  essential  property  is  the  de- 
struction of  the  essence ;  and  the  same  act  which 
destroys  the  essence,  must  necessarily  annihilate  the 
being.  As,  therefore,  the  essence  of  man  consists 
in  the  union  of  his  soul  and  body,  the  latter  of  which 
is  destroyed  by  death,  the  being  of  man  must  neces- 
sarily cease ;  it  can  have  no  further  existence  than 
while  the  union  of  both  natures  is  preserved.  The 
separation,  therefore,  which  takes  place  at  death, 
can  only  be  partial  in  its  nature,  because  the  essence 
must  continue ;  and  as  the  essence  must  continue, 
the  body,  which  formed  a  part,  must  experience  a 
resurrection. 

Were  it  not  for  the  intervention  of  death,  we 
should  have  no  reason  to  doubt  of  the  continuance 
of  the  compounded  being  of  man,  than  we  have  now 
to  doubt  of  its  actual  existen(i^.  The  essence  of 
man  must  therefore  consist  in  this  compound  while 
here  below,  and  that  in  which  the  essence  of  any 
being  consists  at  any  t'lme^  must  be,  that,  in  which 
it  consists  at  all  times,  because  the  essences  of  be- 
ings can  never  undergo  any  change.  And  as  the 
essence  of  man  now  consists  in  the  compound  of  his 
nature,  and  essence  can  never  undergo  any  change, 
the  compound  must  continue,  because  it  is  necessaiy 
to  the  essence,  and  therefore,  though  the  body  dies. 
it  must  necessarily  rise  again. 

If  human  nature  were  immortal,  in  its  present 
state,  no  change  of  essence  would  be  suspected  by 
the  most  sceptical  of  the  human  race.  The  nomi- 
nal essence  would  have  ensured  to  us  the  propri- 
ety of  that  which  is  real,   through  all  those  possible 


Sect.  III.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  391 

changes  which  human  nature,  thus  circumstanced, 
could  undergo.  Why  then  should  we,  in  the  pre- 
sent condition  of  man,  pause  at  the  grave?  Wh)'^ 
should  we  distrust  the  power,  which  is  infinite ;  the 
goodness  which  is  illimitable  ;  or  the  justice  which 
is  immutable  ?  The  power,  which  gave  being,  can 
undoubtedly  continue  it  under  all  possible  changes, 
even  including  death  in  the  catalogue  ;  either  in  this 
world,  or  in  another,  though  his  modes  of  action  re- 
main totally  unknown. 

That  God  will  continue  our  existence,  may  be 
inferred  from  his  attributes  and  nature  ;  his  justice 
demands  it ;  and  neither  his  goodness  nor  his  mercy 
can  withhold  what  justice  demands.  Delinquency 
cannot  be  suffered  to  go  unpunished ;  where  there 
is  a  capacity  for  moral  action,  there  must  be  a  ca- 
pacity for  punishments  and  rewards.  Thus  the  mo- 
ral nature  of  our  existence  and  of  our  actions, 
standing  in  close  connexion  with  justice,  ensures  a 
day  of  retribution,  "v^'hether  we  have,  or  have  not 
any  eye  to  the  essence  and  compounded  nature  of 
man.  And  as  a  day  of  retribution  is  necessarily 
founded  upon  justice,  justice  demands  the  same 
substance,  the  same  essence,  and  the  sa?7ic  being. 
The  being  of  man  being  therefore  constituted  by  the 
union  of  two  distinct  substances,  both  must  be  pre- 
served ;  and  the  body  which  was  sown  in  weakness, 
must  be  raised  in  power. 

That  those  actions,  which  evidently  result  from 

matter  and  spirit,  not  separately  considered,  but  in 

^nion  with  each  other,  are  of  a  moral  nature,  is 

too  evident  to  be  denied.     Many  of  these  neither 


392      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VH. 

matter  nor  spirit  could  perform  in  a  separate  state. 
And,  if  these  actions,  which  thus  result  from  a  com- 
pounded  nature,  are  capable  of  sustaining  a  moral 
relation,  they  can  neither  be  rewarded  nor  punished 
in  any  other  nature  tlian  that  in  which  they  were 
performed.  The  union  of  two  natures,  therefore, 
in  action,  demands  tiie  union  of  two  natures  in  a 
state  of  retribution  ;  and  we  derive  from  this  source 
the  most  indubitable  evidences,  of  a  resyiTcction  of 
the  body. 

That  there  are  many  such  actions  as  we  have 
supposed,  will  become  evident  by  our  adverting  to 
fact.  A  plan  of  deliberate  murder,  when  canied 
into  execution,  is  plainly  an  action  which  mcludes 
both  mind  and  body  ;  while  at  the  same  time  it  is 
a  flagrant  violation  of  that  justice,  which  is  immu- 
table- in  its  nature.  The  soul  alone  could  plan,  and 
the  body  alone  could  execute  the  deed.  The  plan 
alone  could  not  execute  the  crime,  and  the  execution 
cf  it  could  not  constitute  that  deliberation,  which 
adds  to  the  turpitude  of  the  offence.  Both  the  liand 
and  the  heart  are  therefore  implicated  in  the  enor- 
mity, and  both  participate  in  guilt. 

Let  us  now  suppose  that  the  body  rise  not  from 
the  grave  ;  we  can  easily  perceive  how  the  soul 
may  be  punished  for  planning  the  deliberate  mur- 
der upon  a  principle  of  justice  ;  but  ^ve  cannot  so 
plainly  perceive,  how,  on  the  same  principle,  it  can 
be  punished  for  the  execution  of  the  deed.  The 
plan  evidently  belonged  to  the  soul,  but  it  is  equally 
evident  that  the  execution  belonged  to  the  body. 
If,  therefore,  the  body  rise  not  from  the  dead,  eitlier 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY  393 

tlie  soul  must  be  punished  for  a  deed  which  it  did 
not  execute,  or  the  execution  of  murder  must  go 
unpunished ;  but,  in  admitting  either  case,  we  im- 
plicate the  justice  of  God. 

If  the  soul  can  be  justly  punished  for  an  action 
which  it  did  not  perform,  we  shall  be  at  a  loss  to 
know  what  constitutes  injustice  ;  and,  if  it  be  not 
thus  punished,  we  shall  be  at  a  loss  to  know  why 
the  real  delinquent  was  suffered  to  escape.  Justice 
must  always  proportion  the  punishment  to  the  of- 
fence ;  and  therefore  can  never,  according  to  our 
conceptions  of  equity,  punish  the  soul  for  an  action 
which  it  did  not  execute,  and  which  was  totally  im- 
possible to  it.  Either,  therefore,  the  execution  of 
deliberate  murder  must  go  unpunished,  or  the  body 
must  rise  again  from  the  grave.  If  the  execution  of 
deliberate  murder  go  unpunished,  justice  must  re- 
linquish its  claims  and  cease  to  be  justice,  which 
we  well  know  is  totally  impossible,  and  therefore 
cannot  be  ;  and  the  inevitable  result  is,  that  the  body 
must  bear  its  part  in  a  hereafter,  and  be  rescued 
from  the  grave. 

If  murder,  both  in  its  design  and  execution,  fall 
not  within  the  cognizance  of  the  justice  of  God,  we 
can  have  no  conception  that  either  rewards  or  pu- 
nishments can  await  us  be}^ond  the  grave.  This  is 
a  crime,  which  must  stand  in  the  front  of  the  black 
catalogue  of  enormities,  and  which  is  evidently  un- 
just in  all  its  parts.  And,  if  this  crime  does  not 
excite  the  notice  of  Divine  justice,  nothing  besides 
appears  of  sufficient  magnitude,  whether  we  view  it 


394     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

as  an  action  of  the  body,  an  action  of  the  soul,  or 
as  one  which  results  from  the  compounded  nature 
of  man.  But,  since  it  is  impossible  that  such  human 
actions  can  be  placed  beyond  the  confines  of  justice, 
or  be  of  a  nature  to  which  vice  and  virtue  cannot 
apply  ;  we  may  rest  assured  that  the  execution  of 
deliberate  murder  must  be  placed  within  that  circle 
to  which  justice  extends  ;  it  must  consequently  be 
evil  in  its  own  nature ;  and  therefore  exposed  in  all 
its  parts  to  those  punishments  which  justice  will 
finally  inflict. 

If  then,  deliberate  murder  be  an  evil  in  its  own 
nature,  it  must  be  exposed  to  punishment ;  and  if 
exposed  to  punishment,  the  punishment  inflicted 
must  be  just ;  if  the  punishment  be  just,  it  must  be 
proportioned  to  the  offence,  and  must  therefore  ex- 
tend to  that  being  by  whom  the  oifence  was  com- 
mitted. But,  since  the  offence  committed,  which 
we  have  presumed  to  be  deliberate  murder,  was  of 
a  nature  which  neither  the  body  nor  the  soul,  sepa- 
rately considered,  was  capable  of  committing;  it 
must  be  an  action,  which  could  only  arise  from  the 
compounded  state  of  man,  or  from  the  union  of 
those  two  natures,  which  constituted  the  person  of 
the  murderer  ;  both  natures  are  therefore  under  the 
claims  of  justice,  because  both  natures  ixre  in\olved 
in  guilt ;  both  natures  must  therefore  be  preserved 
and  must  live  in  eternity,  and  therefore  the  body 
must  come  forth  from  the  sleep  of  death. 

The  arguments  which  apply  to  murder,  will  ap- 
ply to  all  the  visible  actions  of  life  wliich  are  of  a 


Sect.  III.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  395 

ncrv'el  nature ;  and  furnish  us  with  a  new  series  of 
evidence  in  favour  of  the  resurrection  of  the  body, 
if  traced  through  all  their  parts.  Though  pursued 
in  their  various  branches,  they  may  appear  diversi- 
fied in  their  application ;  yet  the  result  will  be  finally 
the  same,  because  it  is  evidently  founded  in  truth. 
The  progress  of  justice  appears  visible,  when  we 
follow  the  dictates  of  our  natures ;  and  we  see  irt 
the  case  before  us  the  relation  which  subsists  be- 
tween the  subject  and  the  retribution  of  its  deeds. 
In  cases  which  are  purely  mental,  retribution  must 
apply  exclusively  to  the  soul.  But,  in  those  cases 
in  which  the  action  arises  from  the  compounded 
nature  of  man,  both  natures  are  evidently  implica- 
ted ;  and  therefore  both  natures  must  be  the  subject 
either  of  punishment  or  reward.  And,  as  there  ai*e 
many  actions  which  are  of  moral  application,  which 
result  from  the  present  union  of  body  and  soul; 
both  must  be  preserved  for  ever,  and  therefore  the 
dead  must  rise. 

Let  us  now  pause  for  a  momerrt,  and  take  a  sur- 
vey of  those  evidences  and  arguments,  which  have 
appeared  before  us.  Let  us  weigh  the  import,  and 
estimate  their  amount ;  and  consider  how  far  they 
are  calculated  to  impress  conviction  upon  the  mind. 

The  attributes  of  God,  which  we  call  moral,  are, 
without  all  doubt,  essential  to  him.  And,  whether 
we  view  his  justice,  his  mercy,  his  goodness,  or  his 
love,  we  must  view  them  as  permanent  excellencies, 
as  they  are  included  in  the  nature  of  God.  These 
attributes  concur  to  persuade  us  that  the  body  shall 


-t596     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VIL 

rise  again.  The  milder  attributes  of  mercy  and 
love  promise  the  accomplishment  of  our  wishes  and 
our  hopes;  and  the  justice  of  God,  which  we  have 
proved  to  be  immutable,  ensures  a  hereafter  to  the 
body  with  an  evidence  not  to  be  resisted. 

The  moral  relation  of  our  actions  to  some  immu- 
table principle  of  rectitude,  demonstrates  the  cer- 
tainty of  a  state  of  retribution;  and,  from  the  nature 
of  these  actions  we  gather  an  assurance  that  the  body 
must  be  renewed  in  life.  The  nature  of  justice 
obliges  it  to  proportion  the  requital  to  the  deed ; 
and  to  administer  punishment  to  that  being  which 
incurred  the  penalty  which  it  inflicts.  In  this  view% 
both  natures  are  involved ;  and  we  gather  from 
hence  an  assurance  that  our  bodies  must  rise  again. 

Requitals,  which  will  be  administered  hereafter, 
require  a  subject  capacitated  to  receive  them  ;  and 
this  capacity  can  only  arise  from  the  union  of  those 
natures,  to  which  requitals  can  apply.  And,  since 
justice  cannot  be  defeated  in  any  of  its  issues,  those 
capacities  must  be  restored :  and  this  restoration 
can  only  be  accomplished  by  the  reanimating  of 
that  identity  of  body  which  apparently  moulders 
into  dust. 

The  essence  of  man,  which  is  evidently  placed  in 
the  union  of  two  distinct  natures,  became  necessary 
to  the  performance  of  many  actions ;  and  must 
therefore  be  equally  necessar}-  to  those  awards  which 
are  connected  with  these  actions.  The  reunion  of 
these  two  natures  must  therefore  again  take  place, 
in  order  to  the  preservation  of  the  essence  of  /wc;/, 
to  whom  alone,  in  most  of  our  actions  here,  rewards 


Sect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  397 

and  punishments  can  apply.  The  union  of  body 
and  spirit  being  therefore  necessary  to  the  existence 
of  marij  by  whom  the  actions  were  performed,  ne- 
cessarily conducts  the  mind  to  the  resurrection  of 
the  body  from  the  abodes  of  death. 

These  general  topics  of  argument  afford  us  much 
important  evidence ;  and  when  followed  through  all 
their  branches,  they  unfold  a  commanding  force. 
They  display  an  energy,  infinitely  superior  to  those 
objections  which  alone  might  render  the  fact  ques- 
tionable ;  and  by  overpowering  of  them  with  supe- 
rior light,  they  oblige  objections  to  retire  to  the 
shade.  We  have  all  the  evidence  unfolded  to  us 
which  perhaps  we  have  any  reason  to  expect  from 
God  in  our  present  condition ;  and  to  ask  for  more 
is  at  once  unreasonable  and  absurd. 

If  God  had  been  pleased  to  communicate  cer- 
tainty with  more  commanding  evidences  than  those 
which  he  has  afforded  us,  on  a  subject  which  in  its 
own  nature  is  so  abstruse,  he  must  have  changed 
either  our  intellectual  powers,  or  the  organization 
of  our  bodies.  But,  in  either  of  tliese  cases,  we 
should  be  no  longer  what  we  are.  The  evidence 
which  we  have  is  suited  to  our  station  in  existence. 
In  order  that  we  might  have  more,  our  condition 
of  being  must  be  changed ;  and  in  that  case,  the 
exalted  state  of  our  faculties,  by  opening  new  sources 
of  difficulty  beyond  the  limits  of  our  present  horizon, 
would  not  permit  us  to  rest  satisfied  with  those  xtry 
evidences  which  we  now  solicit.  It  is  not  improba- 
ble,  that  an   enlargement  of  our  evidence  would 


398     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  LChap.  VII. 

tend  to  lessen  our  conviction.  I  confess,  this  at 
first  view  appears  to  be  a  Strange  position,  but  our 
astonishment  will  diminish  when  we  contemplate 
the  foundation  on  which  it  rests. 

The  same  capacities,  which  would  be  enlai'ged  to 
receive  the  influence  of  evidence,  would  be  enlarged 
to  the  perception  of  difficulties,  which  are  now  un- 
known. The  obstacles  which  would  probably  arise, 
we  should  even  then  feel  a  Avish  to  have  obviated, 
and  probably  with  more  reason  than  we  now  solicit 
superior  evidence.  Thus  difficulties  would  succeed 
to  difficulties,  which  nothing  could  remove  but  tlmt 
death  and  resurrection,  through  which  God  has 
destined  us  to  pass,  as  the  only  medium  which  can 
possibly  yield  conviction,  without  being  impeded 
by  those  obstacles  which  would  be  inseparable  from 
any  otiier  mode  of  ©ommunicatrng  kix)Avlcdge. 

it  may  perhaps  be  asked  ;  "  Why  does  not  God 
communicate  that  evidence  which  ^all  obviate  ob- 
jections, as  well  as  produce  convictions  of  the  fact?" 
To  this  I  would  answer,  that  we  have  much  reason 
to  believe  that  the  thing  itself  is  morally  impossible. 
The  organs  of  vision,  which  contemplate  beauty,  are 
the  same  which  behold  deformity;  and  to  shut  them 
against  the  latter,  woukl  be  to  destroy  their  uses  in 
the  former  case.  What  is  thus  applicable  to  the 
€ye,  is  equally  applicable  to  the  ear.  Harmony  and 
discord  alike  approach  it ;  and  to  deprive  it  of  the 
one  is  to  debar  it  from  tlie  other.  In  this  vi6;v, 
while  we  sojourn  in  this  region  of  error,  we  may 
conceive  that  an  acuteness  of  intellect,  and  a  refine- 
juent  of  organs,  though  tliey  might  tend  to  enlarge' 


Sect,  in.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  3S9 

-our  evidence  in  favour  of  the  resurrection,  as  well  as 
of  other  facts  ;  would  enlarge  our  difficulties  also, 
and  leave  us  considerable  losers  by  our  acquisition. 
Thus,  an  increase  of  evidence  under  our  present 
circumstances,  would  finally  lead  to  a  proportional 
increase  of  scepticism,  and  multiply  tliose  difficulties 
which  we  wish  to  see  removed. 

In  our  present  condition,  we  are  called  to  walk  by 
faith,  and  not  by  sight.  The  light  of  those  eviden- 
ces, by  which  we  are  led  to  the  knowledge  of  facts, 
must  therefore  be  intermingled  with  many  degrees 
of  shade.  If  all  obstacles  were  removed,  conviction 
would  arise  from  positive  knowledge  ;  and  no  room 
would  be  left  for  faith.  Thus  one  great  distinction 
between  our  condition  in  this  world  and  in  another, 
would  be  totally  desti^yed  ;  and  we  should  begnn  to 
act  from  a  species  of  evidence,  which  is  reserved  for 
us  beyond  the  grave.  On  the  contrary,  were  the 
rational  e\idence  less  than  it  really  is,  the  events 
which  we  now  most  cordially  believe,  would  be  too 
staggering  for  our  understandings.  And,  to  demand 
our  assent  to  facts,  upon  the  mandate  of  authority, 
which  are  astonishing  when  they  really  appear  before 
us;  would  have  been  a  trial  too  severe  for  hu- 
man nature.  God  has  therefore  wisely  attempered 
the  rays  of  evidence  to  the  constitution  of  our  being; 
he  has  suniciently  taught  us,  that  we  are  not  called 
upon  to  believe  any  thing  which  contradicts  our  un- 
derstimdings  ;  but  at  the  same  time  shewing  us  how 
disproportionate  our  powers  are,  in  their  present  de- 
ranged condition,  to  those  vast  realities  which  we 
cannot  Hul  to  behold,  he  has  obliged  us  through  a 


400     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

train  of  circumstances,  to  find  our  final  repose  in 
.faith.  Thus  then,  we  see  the  reason  why  our  evi- 
dence is  so  scanty  here ;  and  why  we  expect  to  find 
it  completed  hereafter. 

All  circumstances  duly  considered,  we  must  con- 
clude, that  God  has  placed  us  in  a  happy  medium. 
Our  evidences  are  sufficient  to  produce  conviction, 
and  we  really  are  in  want  of  nothing  more.  Secret 
things  belong  to  God ;  and  though  communicable 
in  themselves,  to  us  they  are  involved  in  difficulties 
which  we  cannot  penetrate.  A  situation  like  ours, 
in  which  all  our  faculties  are  deranged  through  sin, 
must  necessarily  be  embarrassed  by  impediments 
which  we  cannot  surmount ;  and  whether  our  con- 
dition were  more  or  less  exalted,  it  is  highly  proba- 
ble that  we  should  suffer  from  the  change.  We  arc 
placed  in  a  region  where  light  and  shade  are  so 
happily  intermingled  together,  that  the  evidence  re- 
sulting from  all  is  suited  to  our  perceptive  powers  ; 
and  calculated  to  check  our  presumption  without 
discouraging  our  hopes.  The  difficulties  which  en- 
circle us,  are  convincing  proofs  that  there  are  heights 
and  depths  which  are  unattainable  in  our  present 
state  ;  and  we  leam  from  hence  to  place  a  due  esti- 
mate upon  our  faculties,  which  but  for  these  circum- 
stances, we  should  assuredly  oven-ate.  The  ob- 
stacles which  are  at  present  insurmountable,  teach 
us  to  look  forwai'd  into  another  state  of  existence, 
for  that  evidence  which  is  incompatible  with  our 
present  condition,  and  which  therefore  we  must 
solicit  in  vain.  We  have  a  sufficiency  to  convince 
us  of  the  fiict ;    and  to  ol^tain  more  Ave  must  "  \A'ait 


Siict.  III.]  OF  THE  HUIklAN  BODY.  401 

the  great  teacher  death,  aiid  place  our  confidence  in 
God. 

That  moral  evil  had  its  beginning  subsequent  to 
the  formation  of  man,  is  a  truth  which  both  philosa- 
phy  and  revelation  conspire  to  prove.  Of  this  fact 
we  have  taken  a  survey  in  an  early  part  of  this 
volume  ;  and  the  reasons  which  led  to  that  decision 
are  there  before  the  reader.  From  that  fact  it  has 
also  been  inferred,  that  moral  evil  is  the  cause  of 
that  evil  which  we  call  natural ;  and,  were  it  not  for 
the  former,  that  the  latter  would  have  been  totally 
unknown.  To  trace  natural  evil  through  all  the  af- 
flictive calamities  of  life,  would  be  at  once  an  unne*. 
cessary  and  painful  task.  We  discover  it  in  a  va- 
riety of  forms ;  it  reigns  through  life,  and  finally 
terminates  in  death,  which  closes  the  black  catalogue 
of  human  woes  on  this  side  the  grave. 

We  have  also  seen  that  moral  evil  must  finally  be, 
done  away  from  all  the  righteous  ;  and,  by  an  inevi- 
table consequence,  natural  evil,  which  is  its  off- 
spring, must  also  expire.  And,  as  natural  ev^ 
must  expire,  death  must  be  included  as  its  most  con- 
spicuous branch ;  and  as  death  and  the  concojnj.-. 
tants  of  death,  must  instantly  expire,  when  moral 
evil  shall  be  done  away ;  the  bodies  of  the  righte- 
ous, having  nothing  to  detain  them  in  the  grave, 
must  come  forth  in  a  glorious  resurrection. 

But,  the  arguments  which  were  adduced  to  prove 

these  points,    are  of  partial   application;    confined 

chiefly  to  the  resurrection   of  the  righteous,  from 

whom  alone  moral  evil  can  be  done  away.     The 

Hhh 


403    IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

destruction  of  death,  when  viewed  in  a  personal 
character,  must  indeed  prevent  its  future  power; 
by  whomsoever  destroyed,  its  energy  cannot  survive 
its  being ;  and  in  that  view  it  may  be  said,  that 
death  can  have  no  more  dominion  over  the  bodies 
of  the  wicked,  though  moral  evil  be  not  destroyed. 
But,  such  arguments  are  very  remote,  and  claim  our 
attention  in  a  secondary  way.  They  are  of  force, 
as  they  apply  to  the  resurrection  of  the  righteous ; 
and  contain  within  tliem  such  proofs  of  the  fact  as 
arc  not  easily  overcome. 

But,  the  proofs  which  have  been  adduced  in  this 
chapter,  are  of  a  different  nature ;  and  ratlier  apply 
to  the  bodies  of  the  wicked  than  to  those  of  tlie 
good.  Divine  justice,  which  is  immutable  in  its 
nature,  must  have  claims  which  cannot  be  cancelled, 
without  the  resurrection  of  those  bodies  on  which 
its  demands  are  made.  On  the  bodies  of  the  right- 
eous, justice  can  make  no  demands.  Its  claims 
have  been  fully  satisfied  by  the  efficacy  of  that 
^onement,  in  which  they  are  interested;  and  the 
resuyrection-  of  their  bodies  rather  depends  upon 
m^rcy  and  Ibve  than  ujwn  the  justice  of  God. 

But,  when  we  add  these  different  sources  of  ar- 
gument together,  and  consider  the  import  and  appli- 
cation of  those  proofs  which  they  afford,  they 
increase  the  general  stock  of  rational  evidence  in  ik- . 
vour  of  the  resurrection,  and  become  convincing  in 
every  point  of  view.  The  arguments  of  tlie  former 
chapter  prove  the  resurrection  of  the  righteous,  from 
the  certain  annihilation  of  moral  evil ;  and  the  resur- 
rection of  the  wicked  arises  from  the  justice  of  God. 


^ect.  III.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  40S 

The  certainty  of  rewards  and  punishments  ensure? 
to  us  an  hereafter ;  these  must  be  administered  by 
the  hand  of  impartial  justice  ;  and  this  justice  en- 
sures to  us  the  continuance  of  the  compounded  state 
of  man.  This  compounded  nature  can  only  arise  from 
a  restoration  of  the  body ;  and  since  it  is  included 
in  all  of  the  human  race,  it  is  an  argument  of  uni- 
versal application,  and  proves  that  the  bodies  both 
of  the  righteous  and  the  wicked  shall  rise  again  from 
the  grave. 

The  arguments,  thus  adduced,  extend  in  their 
different  branches  to  every  portion  of  mankind ;  they 
leave  no  part  unsupported  by  proof,  but  fill  up 
every  vacuity  which  the  mind  perceives.  The  an- 
nihilation of  moral  evil,  and  its  continuance,  both 
concur  to  prove  the  resurrection  of  the  bodies  of 
all :  the /brmery  those  of  the  righteous,  and  the  lat- 
tfer,  those  of  the  wicked;  and  when  joined  together, 
+hey  form  an  extensive  circle,  which  is  completed  in 
all  its  parts.  They  extend  to  the  two  great  divisions 
of  mankind ;  and  take  in  the  inhabitants  both  of 
felicity  and  of  woe.  Nothing  more  can  be  ration- 
ally expected  from  the  topics  of  argument  which 
are  before  us ;  and  topics  more  pregnant  with  evi- 
dence, we  have  no  reason,  on  so  abstruse  a  subject, 
to  expect.  The  arguments  taken  in  the  aggregate, 
render  the  great  event  rather  more  than  morally 
certain ;  they  amount  to  little  less  than  irresistible 
proof,  arising  from  the  sources  of  inoral  certainty ^ 
analogy^  ^nd  fact ;  and  only  fall  short  of  begetting' 
that  absolute  conviction,  which  nothing  but  actual 
demonstration  can  produce. 


404     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 


SECT.  IV, 

Observations  on  several  Passages  of  the  Fifteenth 
Chapter  of  the  First  Book  of  Corinthians,  in 
which  Philosophy  and  Authority  are  combined 
and  considered  together. 

That  the  doctrine  of  the  resurrection  is  a  doctrine 
of  the  Bible,  it  would  be  useless *to  prove,  and  ridi- 
culous to  deny.  To  enumerate  those  places,  in 
which  this  fact  is  asserted,  would  be  foreign  to  my 
design ;  it  would  remove  me  from  that  region  in 
which  I  have  chiefly  sought  for  proof,  and  oblige 
me  to  adduce  a  train  of  evidence,  on  which  the  Di- 
vine authority  of  the  scriptures  rests.  The  chapter, 
however,  which  is  before  us,  professedly  treats  of 
this  important  fact ;  and  the  reasonings  which  St. 
Paul  has  used,  demand  our  attention  both  from  the 
authority  on  'vhich  they  are  founded,  and  the  mas- 
terly arguments  which  they  contain. 

St.  Paul,  in  the  commencement  of  his  reasonings, 
adverts  to  a  fact  which  at  that  period  no  one  would 
presume  to  deny,  namely  the  resurrection  of  Jesus 
Christ.  /  delivered  unto  you,  (he  observes)  frst 
df  ally  that  which  I  also  received,  how  that  Christ 
died  for  our  sins,  according  to  the  scriptures,  and 
that  he  was  buried,  and  that  he  rose  again  tlie 
third  day,  according  to  the  scripture^,  (ver.  3,  4.) 
From  these  declarations  he  proceeds  to  state  the 
evidences,  upon  which  his  assertions  were  founded  ; 
jind  appeals  to  those  living  witnesses  which  he  thus 


Sect.  IV.]  ©F  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  405 

enumerates.  After  that  (namely  the  resun-ection 
of  which  he  had  spoken  in  the  preceding  verses)  he 
zvas  seen  of  Cephas,  then  of  the  twelve  ;  after  that 
he  tuas  seen  of  above  five  hundred  brethren  at  once, 
of  whom  the  greater  part  remain  unto  this  present, 
hut  some  are  fallen  asleep.  .After  that  he  was  seen 
of  James,  then  of  all  the  apostles.  And  last  of  all 
he  xuas-  seen  of  me  also.  (ver.  5 — 8.)  Thus  we 
have  before  us  a  fact  of  a  most  extraordinary  na-' 
ture,  plainly  asserted ;  and  that  assertion  supported 
by  a  cloud  of  witnesses,  who  could  not  -possibly  be 
deceived  themselves,  and  who  could  feel  no  interest 
whatever  in  deceiving  others. 

The  resurrection  of  Christ  being  thus  asserted, 
and  proved,  by  upwards  of  two  hundred  and  fifty 
living  witnesses  ;  St.  Paul  proceeds  from  thence  to 
argue  in  favour  of  the  doctrine  at  large,  and  in  the 
progress  of  his  reasonings  applies  his  arguments  to 
the  whole  of  the  human  race.  Hence  he  says  in 
\erse  the  tweftli,  Now,  if  Christ  be  preached,  that 
he  rose  from  the  dead,  how  say  some  among  you, 
that  there  is  no  resurrection  of  the  dead?  But, 
if  there  be  ?io  resurrection  of  the  dead,  then  is 
Christ  not  risen.  And  if  Christ  be  not  risen, 
then  is  our  preaching  vain,  and  your  faith  also  is 
vain.  Yea  a?ul  we  are  found  false  witnesses  of 
God,  because  we  have  testified  of  God,  that  he 
raised  up  Christ,  whojn  he  raised  not  up,  if  so  be 
that  the  dead  ?'ise  not. 

Thus  far  the  argument  is  strictly  conclusive.  If 
the  resurrection  be  impossible  in  itself,  then  the  re- 
surrection of  Christ,    wliich  the  apostle  had  asserted 


406     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VU. 

as  an  undubitable  fact,  must  be  an  evident  falsehood ; 
and  having  in  that  case  laid  the  foundation  of  his 
preaching  in  that  event,  which  has  proved  a  falsehood, 
his  preaching  was   vain,   and  the  faith  of  those  who 
had  received  his  word  with  gladness  was  vain  also ; 
and   consequently,   the    doctrines     which    he   had 
taught,  were  nothing  better  than  an  imposition  upon 
mankind.     In  addition  to  these  circumstances,  we 
are  found  false  witnesses  (he  observes)  before  God, 
And  the  reason  is  evident,  because  they  had  testified 
(in  the  fifth,    sixth,  seventh,  and   eighth  verses)  of 
Godj    that  he   had  raised  up   Christ  (and  that  he 
had  been  seen  by  Xh^xn,)  xvhom  it  is  evident  he  could 
not  have  raised  iip^  if  so  be  that  the  dead  rise  ?iot. 

Fory  if  the  dead  rise  not,  then  is  Christ  not 
raised ;  and  if  Christ  be  not  raised,  your  faith  is 
vain,  ye  are  yet  in  your  sins.  Then  they  also 
which  are  fallen  asleep  in  Christ  are  perished 
(verses  sixteenth  and  eighteenth.)  Such  are  the 
inevitable  consequences  which  must  ensue,  upon  a 
supposition  that  the  resurrection  of  Christ  is  false. 
If  that  great  event  be  nothing  but  a  forgery,  then  all 
those  doctrines  which  relate  to  our  redemption 
through  Jesus  Clirist,  can  be  nothing  more  than 
mere  delusions.  Our  hope  of  happiness,  through 
the  great  atonement,  can  be  nodiing  more  than  a 
visionary  deception ;  and  all  experimental  religion 
can  be  nothing  more  than  an  idle  dream. 

The  apostle  having  anticipated  these  consequen- 
ces,  proceeds  to  repettt  his  origimil  assertion ;  and 
to  rely  upon  those. evidences  of  the  fact  which  he 
luid  already  adduced.     Having  traced  the  opposite 


Sect.  IV.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  407 

assertion  to  its  remotest  consequences,  and  pointed 
out  the  fatal  effects  which  must  ensue,  if  the  resur- 
rection of  Christ  were  admitted  to  have  been  a  false- 
hood, and  the  doctrine  itself  to  be  incredible  ;  St. 
Paul  in  verse  the  twentieth  thus  proceeds  :  But, 
noiu  is  Christ  risen  from  the  dead^  and  become  the 
first  fruits  of  them  that  slept.  For  since  by  mati 
came  death,  by  man  came  also  the  resurrection  of 
the  dead.  For,  as  in  Adam  all  die,  even  so  in 
Christ  shall  all  be  made  alive.  But  every  man  in 
his  0W71  order :  Christ  the  first  fruits ;  after- 
wards they  that  are  Chris fs  at  his  coming,  (verses 
twentieth  and  twenty-third.) 

That  Christ  is  risen  from  the  dead,  is  a  point 
which  will  admit  of  no  dispute  with  any  of  those 
who  believe  tlie  bible;  and  those  who  do  not,  would 
not  be  persuaded  though  one  rose  from  the  dead. 
In  verse  the  twenty-first  we  are  assured,  that  death 
came  by  man  ;  it  therefore  follows,  that  though  man 
is  a  compounded  being,  and  tliough  all  compounded 
beings  have  a  tendency  to  decay,  that  God  must 
have  sa  far  provided  for  the  perpetuity  of  the  human 
body,  that  death  would  have  been  prevented  from 
taking  place,  if  moral  evil  had  remained  totally  un» 
known.  Hence  then  arises  the  probability,  that  the 
tree  of  life  was  planted  by  God  to  counteract  that 
tendency  to  dissolution,  which  seems,  in  our  earthly 
abode,  to  be  interwoven  with  all  material  substan- 
ces. And  hence  also  the  probability,  that,  when 
man  departed  from  God,  his  being  denied  all  access 
to  this  treei  exposed  him  to  this  dissolution  which 


408       IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  Vir 

resulted  from  his  condition ;  it  is  therefore  in  this 
view  that  we  may  easily  conceive  the  meaning  of  the 
apostle,  when  he  tells  us  that  by  man  came  death. 
It  may  also  be  furthermore  observed,  that  the 
apostle  does  not  attribute  •  the  cause  of  death  either 
to  the  soul  or  to  the  body,  but  to  the  man.  We 
have  already  proved  that  this  word  evidently  implies 
the  union  of  two  distinct  natures ;  and  as  death 
came  by  man,  both  natures  must  have  concurred  to 
produce  it.  Both  natures  were  therefore  involved 
in  guilt,  and  both  natures  became  amenable  to  Di- 
vine justice.  We  may  therefore  plainly  infer  from 
the  philosophy  of  the  expression  before  us,  that  a 
resurrection  of  the  body  must  take  place. 

The  same  verse  which  has  told  us,  that  by  man 
came  death,  tells  us  al^o  that  by  man  came  also  the 
resurrection  of  the  dead.     This  part  of  the  expres- 
sion, without  all  doubt,  alludes  to  the  humarr  nature 
of  Jesus  Christ.     By  his  resurrection,  the  fact  itself 
became  visible.     The  fact  overcomes  all  objections 
that  can   be  raised   against  it.     In   the   person  of 
Christ  it  stood  on  the  evidence  of  the  senses.     His 
body  was  seen,  his  voice  was  heard ;  and  those  who 
held  him  by  the  feet  and  worshipped  him  could  not 
be  deceived.     And,  as  he  was  perfect  man,  and  his 
body  was  perfect  body,  what  was  possible  to  him  is 
possible  to  us  as  men ;    and  what  has  actually  been 
fact  with  his  body  as  to  its  resurrection,  will  actually 
be  fact  to  our  bodies.     Thus  the  resurrection  came 
by  man,  by  the  man  Christ  Jesus,  who  was  made 
in  the  likeness  of  sinful  jlesh  ;  and  as  the  resurrec- 


S«ct.  IV.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  409 

tion  became  visible  by  him,  who  is  the  Jirst  Jruits 
ef  them  that  dept^  so  his  resurrection  brought  into 
the  world  the  most  permanent  evidence;  not  merely 
that  the  fact  ^vas  possible  and  probable,  in'point  of 
theory,  but  also  that  it  had  been  accomplished  in 
point  of  fact.  That,  therefore,  which  was  accom* 
plished  in  the  person  of  Christ,  can  still  be  accom- 
plished by  the  same  power,  in  subjects  of  the  same 
nature.  The  whole  doctrine  must  therefore  evi^ 
dently  apply  to  our  bodies,  because  nothing  but  the 
body  of  Christ  could  possibly  taste  of  death.  And 
that  the  same  power,  which  raised  up  Christ  from 
the  dead,  will  be  exerted  in  the  resurrection  of  the 
human  race,  is  evident  from  this  plain  declaration 
in  Terse  the  fifty-second,  the  dead  shall  be  raised  in' 
corruptible,  and  we  shall  be  changed. 

Here  then  we  have  the  Jact,  the  power ,  and  the 
promise.  The  fact  could  not  deceive,  the  power 
cannot  be  diminished,  and  the  promise  cannot  lie. 
Every  thing  therefore,  which  fact  and  power,  and 
promise  can  possibly  confer,  we  have  before  us; 
and  the  evidence  becomes  conclusive,  that  the  bodies 
of  mankind  must  awake  from  the  sleep  of  death. 

In  verse  the  twenty-sixth,  M^e  are  told,  that  th<e 
last  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is  death.  If 
death  therefore  shall  be  df'stroyed,  his  dominidi 
must  be  at  an  end.  And  if  his  dominion  be  at  an 
end,  his  captives  must  be  released  ;  and  if  his  cap- 
tives  are  released,  human  nature  must  forsake  the 
grave,  and  enter  upon  a  state  of  existence  that  shall 
never  end.     If,  in  this  passage  we  view  death  as  a 

lii 


410      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

person,  the  conclusions  which  I  have  drawn  hold 
good.  But,  if  we  view  death  as  a  mere  privation  of 
life^  or  a  degraded  condition  of  human  nature^ 
then  the  destruction  of  death  must  be  the  destruc- 
tion of  that  privation  of  Ife,  or  of  that  degraded 
condition  of  human  nature;  and  where  the  pri- 
vation of  life  is  destroyed,  a  restoration  to  life 
must  necessaril}'-  ensue.  And  whether  we  view 
death  under  the  character  of  a  person  or  not,  the 
conclusion  is  evident ;  that  the  bodies  of  those  who 
have  departed  must  necessarily  rise  again. 

But,  in  the  midst  of  these  ar-guments  and  proofs, 
some  many  perhaps,  will  say^  Jtov)  an'e  the  dead  raised 
np,  a?jd  with  what  bod//  do  they  come  ?  That  every 
one  of  those'  numerical  particles,  which  had  at  any 
time  been  united  to  a  living  body,  is  not  necessary 
to  constitute  the  same  body  in. the  resurrection,  I 
have  attempted  to  prove  in  the  sixtli  chapter  of  this 
work.  I  have  contended  that  sameness  must  con- 
tinue in  the  midst  of  those  changes  which  our  bodies 
undergo  ;  and  that  it  must  consist  in  something 
which  shall  survive  the  shocks  and  changes  both  of 
life  and  death.  In  the  adoption  of  this  sentiment, 
I  feel  myself  sanctioned  by  the  following  lai^guage 
of  St.  Paul,  to  whom  I  am  indebted-  for  most  of  the 
kading  thoughts  of  tb^t  chapter.  He  observes,  in 
verses  the  thirty-sixth  and  thirty-eighth,  Thou  fooU 
that  which  thou  soxvest  is  not  quickened  except  it 
die :  and  that  xvhich  thou  soxvest^  thou  soxvest  not 
that  body  xvhich  shall  be^  but  a  hare  grainy  it  may 
chance  of  xvhcaty  or  of  some  of  her  grain.     But  God 


Sect.  IV.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  411 

giveth  it  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased  him,  and  to  every 
seed  his  ow7i  body. 

That  the  body  which  is  soivn,  is  not  that  body 
which  shall  be,  is  the  plain  language  of  verse  the 
thirty- seventh ;  we  are  therefore  naturally  led  to  in- 
quire, in  what  does  sameness  consist  ?  The  sameness 
of  Jig  are,  of  magnitude,  and_  of  weight,  is  foreign 
to  the  pre-sent  purpose  ,  these  samenesses  were  per- 
petually shifting  through  every  stage  of  life,  without 
the  intermission  of  a  single  moment ;  and  therefore 
we  cannot  conceive  that  these  were  the  objects  which 
the  apostle  had  in  view. 

There  are  however,  two  points  in  which  this 
sameness  may  be  considered;  the  first  is  that  of 
the  identity  of  the  body,  and  the  second  is  that  of 
the  numerical  particles,  of  which  the  body  either  is 
or  was  composed.  The  former  of  these  must  evi- 
dently be  preserved,  because  without  this  it  cannot 
be  a  resurrection,  but  must  actually  be  an  entirely 
new  creation.  And  since  the  former  must  be  pre- 
served, and  preserved  through  eternity,  we  must 
conclude  that  the  sameness  of  numerical  particles 
must  be  the  object  which  the  apostle  had  in  view. 

That  this  was  the  object  to  which  he  directed  our 
thoughts,  is  evident  from  the  comparisons  which  he 
has  introduced  to  illustrate  his  subject.  The  whole 
process  of  vegetation  will  cast  light  on  the  doctrine 
before  us,  and  communicate  ideas  which  no  lan- 
guage can  fully  express.  The  dissolution  of  the 
parent  grain  is  necessary  to  the  vegetation  of  that 
germ  which  is  lodged  within  its  confines ;  but  the 


413     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VIL 

old  numerical  particks  are  not  all  called  forth  to 
form  that  grain  which  shall  be.  At  the  same  time, 
though  God  giveth  to  each  a  body  as  it  hath  pleased 
him,  yet  he  giveth  to  every  seed  his  own  body. 
Thus  succession  in  existence  takes  place  without 
the  destruction  of  identity,  or  the  introduction  of  the 
least  confusion  among  those  particles  of  matter 
which  receive  the  change  ;  both  in  the  production  of 
future  grain,  and  in  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

But  here  an  objection  may  be  raised,  which  St.  Paul 
seems  to  have  foreseen,  and  to  have  answered  by 
anticipation.  It  may  perhaps  be  said,  "if  the  body 
undergo  a  change  analogous  to  that  through  which 
grain  passes,  that  it  cannot  be  the  same."  But  this 
objection  can  only  arise  from  our  ignorance  of  body 
in  the  abstract.  We  know  not  with  any  degree  of 
certainty,  how  far  change  of  numerical  particles  may 
consist  with  sameness  of  body. 

We  know  not  with  any  precision,  how  far  quan- 
tity is  included  in  our  idea  of  body  ;  nor  can  we  de- 
termine how  far  sensible  qualities  may  be  removed, 
while  the  essence  remains  entire.  Of  these  varia- 
tions St.  Paul  tells  us,  That  all  Jlesh  is  not  the  same 
Jtesh  ;  but  there  is  one  kind  oj' Jlesh  of  nieji,  another 
jlesh  of  beasts,  ajiother  of  fishes.,  another  of  birds. 
There  are  also  celestial  bodies,  and  bodies  terrestrial, 
(verses  the  thirty-ninth  and  fortieth.) 

Of  eternal  things  we  can  have  no  conception  but 
by  comparison :  and  that  which  tJie  apostle  has 
made  use  of,  is  sufficiently  satisfactory  to  assure  us, 
that  body  may  remain  after  many  astonishing  chan- 


Sect.  IV.}  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY  41S 

ges  have  passed  upon  it,  of  which  in  our  present 
condition  we  can  probably  have  no  conception. 
That  there  is  a  specific  difference  in  the  flesh  of 
animals,  we  cannot  doubt.  The  Jlesh  of  fishes  is 
totally  distinct  from  that  of  men ;  and  yet  we  ai-e 
fully  assured,  that  the  denominating  qualities  still 
remain.  In  what  the  real  difference  actually  con- 
sists between  these  two  species  of  animal  substan- 
ces, I  take  not  -upon  me  to  determine ;  but  I  learn 
from  the  comparison  this  important  lesson,  that  what 
changes  soever  our  bodies  may  undergo,  bodi/y  in 
all  its  essential  properties,  will  still  continue.  And 
though  they  may  be  so  far  changed  from  what  thej** 
at  present  are,  as  the  Jlesh  of  fishes  is  different 
from  the  fiesh  of  men ;  so  much  so  that  fiesh  and 
blood,  which  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God, 
shall  be  done  away,  yet  that  the  human  body  will 
remain.  We  see  in  the  comparison,  that  variations 
in  the  constitution  are  consistent  with  sameness  of 
nature;  and  that  the  bodies  which  we  have,  will 
still  be  bodies,  whether  we  consider  them  as  terres- 
trial or  celestial. 

From  contemplating  those  animal  substances, 
which  are  specifically  different,  and  yet  essentially 
the  same ;  the  apostle  proceeds  in  his  comparison 
by  an  appeal  to  the  masses  of  the  universe,  and  the 
distinct  sphere  of  glory  which  they  exhibit.  After 
having  said,  that  there  are  bodies  celestial,  and 
bodies  terrestrial,  he  observes^  but  the  glory  of  the 
celestial  is  one,  and  the  glory  of  the  terrestrial  is 
another.  There  is  one  glory  of  the  sun,  and  ano- 
ther glory  of  the  moon,  and  another  glory  of  the 


414     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

star Sy  for  one  star  differ etli  from  another  star  in  glory. 
So  also  is  the  resurhction  of  the  (leadj  (verses  the 
fortieth  and  forty- second.) 

The  different  degrees  of  lustre,  with  which  these 
heavenly  bodies  appear,  afford  strong  presumption 
that  they  are  specifically  unlike  each  other  in  their 
internal  constitutions,  as  in  their  magnitudes  and 
distances  from  one  another  ;  some  of  them  are  lumi- 
nous, some  of  them  are  opaque ;  and  even  those  of 
the  soku"  system,  from  their  differences  in  their  ap- 
,proximation  to  their  common  centre,  demonstrate 
that  their  densities  must  be  various,  and  that  their 
constitutions  must  be  unlike.  Of  the  fixed  stars 
we  kJno^v  but  little  ;  but,  since  \ariety  is  founded  in 
all  those  works  of  God  which  we  have  any  oppor- 
tunity of  contemplating,  it  is  unreasonable  to  sup- 
pose that  variety  is  exclusively  confined  to  the  sphere 
which  we  inliiibit.  The  productions  of  distant 
worlds  may  be  as  different  from  those  with  which 
vv'e  are  acquainted,  as  the  embryo  in  the  womb  is 
from  the  man  in  a  state  of  maturity  ;  or  as  the  man 
m  a  state  of  maturity  is  from  man  in  a  future  state. 

The  nature  and  constitution  of  the .  sun  must  be 
as  distinct  from  the  nature  and  constitution  of  those 
revolving  bodies,  which  he  invigorates  and  warms, 
as  water  is  from  marble ;  or  as  the  air  we  breathe 
is  from  the  ground  on  which  we  tread.  The  dis- 
tinctions which  ^ve  contemplate,  are  not  founded 
iqDon  hypothetical  possibility,  but  in  many  cases 
they  are  in  actual  Cvxistence.  They  differ  from  one 
anodier  in  constitution  and  manner  of  existence ; 
and  serve   to  shew  us  what  an  infinite  \arietv  of 


Sect.  IV.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  415 

forms  omnipotent  power  is  able  to  produce  out  of 
the  same  materials;  or  at  least  out  of  materials 
which  only  differ  in  sensible  qualities  from  one  ano- 
ther, while  they  are  ultimately  resolvable  into  one 
common  essence. 

Whatever  differences  may  be  presumed  to  exist 
between  these  heavenl}'^  bodies,  either  in  situtation, 
in  magnitude,  in  density,  in  constitution,  or  in  lustre  ; 
it  must  not  be  forgotten  that  in  point  of  essence  they 
are  still  the  same.  They  claim  their  origin  in  the 
same  common  substance ;  they  still  sustain  the  ge- 
»neral  appellation  of  bodie's,  though  some  of  them 
are  more  exalted  than  others  ;  and  though  the  glory 
which  they  emit  is  different  in  radiance,  as  well  as 
differently  diffused. 

So  also  is  the  7'esurrection  of  the  dead.  The 
same  body  is  capable  of  undergoing  changes,  equally 
surprising  with  those  vai^iations  which  we  ha\'e 
been  contemplating  in  the  bodies  of  the  universe. 
The  ductility  of  matter,  when  acted  upon  by  omni- 
potent power,  is  so  great,  that  the  substance  can 
bend  to  every  thing  which  its  essence  does  not  pre- 
elude.  And,  whether  we  view  it  in  the  distinct  spe- 
cies of  Jlesh,  in  bodies  celestial,  or  in  bodies  terres- 
trial ;  we  learn  from  each  subject,  to  lessen  our 
astonishment  at  those  changes  through  which  our 
bodies  have  to  pass. 

St.  Paul  having  prepared  us  for  the  great  event, 
by  the  enumeration  of  those  facts  to  which  he  has 
appealed  ;  proceeds  to  mark  out  the  specific  differ- 
ence between  those  bodies  which  we  now  have,  and 
those  which  we  must  have  hereafter.     It  is  sowti  in 


416    IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

corruption^  it  is  raised  in  incorruptiony  it  is  sown 
in  dishonour y  it  is  raised  in  glory ;  it  is  sow7i  in 
weahiessy  it  is  raised  in  power ;  it  is  sown  a  na* 
tural  body^  it  is  raised  a  spiritual  body.  There  is 
a  natural  body,  and  there  is  a  spiritual  body, 
(verses  the  forty-second  and  forty-fourth. ) 

Through  the  preceding  illustrative  comparisons, 
xvhich  St.  Paul  had  introduced,  and  the  masterly  ap- 
plication which  he  has  made,  we  discover,  so  far  as 
tlie  scantiness  of  our  ideas  and  the  limitation  of  our 
capacities  v.ill  afford,  the  important  changes  which 
await  our  bodies  beyond  the  grave.  The  process 
of  vegetation  is  still  in  view ;  and  a  state  of  disso- 
lution seems  to  be  that  great  alembic,  through  which 
our  present  bodies  are  to  be  refined,  in  order  to  that 
perfection  which  lies  in  a  future  state.  To  ask  why 
tliese  things  are  not  more  clearly  revealed,  is  only 
to  ask  why  God  has  not  given  to  us  those  refined  ca- 
pacities, which  are  inapplicable  to  our  condition ; 
and  which,  if  actually  bestowed  upon  us,  would 
make  us  no  longer  man.  To  comprehend,  with 
minute  exactness,  the  subject  before  us,  and  to  form 
conceptions  which  are  at  once  accurate  and  appro- 
priate, may  be  reserved  for  us  in  that  state  which 
will  shortly  be  our  portion,  when  mortality  shall  be 
s^vallowed  up  in  life. 

That  our  bodies  are  sown  in  corruption,  is  a  fact 
so  evident,  that  it  requires  no  comment.  And  we 
may  naturally  conclude,  from  the  expression  of 
\'ei*se  the  forty-second,  that  the  incorruption  m 
which  our  bodies  shall  be  raised,  stands  opposed  to 
thiit  corruption  in  which  they  are  said  to  be  sown. 


Sect  IV.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  417 

As  therefore  corruption  implies  decay,  and  a  total 
separation  of  those  parts  which  appear,  when  depo- 
sited in  the  earth ;  so  we  may  naturally  conceive, 
that  incorruption  implies  an  exemption  from  that 
dissolution  and  decay,  which  are  inseparable  from 
all  compounded  bodies  in  our  present  state  of  ex- 
istence. And,  as  a  separation  of  all  the  component 
parts  of  our  bodies,  implies  either  a  previous  ten- 
dency in  the  parts  themselves,  or  a  certain  power  in 
some  external  cause  which  communicates  its  im- 
pulses to  produce  these  effects ;  so  we  may  natu- 
rally infer,  either  tliat  this  internal  tendency  shall  be 
totally  removed,  or  that  the  body  which  shall  be 
raised,  will  be  placed  beyond  the  influence  of  that 
po^ver  through  w^hich  a  separation  of  the  parts  was 
wrought. 

That  the  body  shall  be  placed  beyond  the  in|Hu- 
ence  of  those  external  causes,  which  now  impel  it, 
has  been  proved  in  section  the  sixth,  of  the  sixth 
chapter.  And,  as  our  future  bodies  must  be  mate- 
rial, and  as  matter  in  itself  can  have  no  tendencies, 
when  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  all  external  causes 
either  to  motion  or  rest ;  no  given  particle,  which 
shall  then  be  placed  in  our  bodies,  shall  ever  remove 
from  its  station.  And  therefore  the  body,  though 
composed  of  separable  parts,  shall  be  raised  and 
preserved  in  a  state  of  incorruption. 

On  these  accounts  we  ma}'  easily  conceive,  how 
this  body,  which  is  sown  in  dishonour^  shall  be  raised 
in  glory ;  and  why,  though  soivn  in  weakness  it 
shall  be  raised  in  power.     Its  state  of  incorruption 

Kkk 


418     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  Vll. 

is  a  state  of  glory,  to  the  bodies  of  the  righteous ; 
and  perpetuity  of  life,  implies  vigour  and  power, 
which  never  can  decay.  A  removal  from  the  influ- 
ence of  all  external  causes,  must  place  the  particles, 
of  which  our  bodies  shall  be  composed,  beyond  the 
reach  of  all  constraint ;  and  even  give  to  each  of 
them  the  power  to  adhere  for  ever.  Thus  weakness 
shall  be  exchanged  for  poxveVy  and  dishojioiir  for 
glory ;  when  this  corruptible  shall  have  put  on  in- 
corruption^  and  this  mortal  shall  have  put  on  immor- 
tality. 

That  there  is  a  natural  body,  and  that  there  is  a 
spiritual  body,  we  ai-e  expressly  told  in  verse  the 
forty-fourth;  but  in  what  they  *shall  specifically 
differ  from  each  other,  it  is  difficult  to  know.  Of  a 
spiritual  body,  in  its  strictest  sense,  we  can  cer-^ 
tainly  form  no  accurate,  no  consistent  idea.  The 
two  words  seem  inapplicable  to  each  other,  and  na- 
tunilly  introduce  confusion  in  our  thoughts ;  I  am 
therefore  inclined  to  imagine,  that  the  expression  is 
not  to  be  taken  in  an  absolute,  but  only  in  a  compa- 
rative sense. 

That  matter  can  never  become  spirit,  any  more 
than  spirit  can  become  matter,  will  admit  of  no 
question ;  because  according  to  tiiose  notions  which 
we  have  of  these  substances,  essences  can  never  be 
exchanged  with  each  other,  any  more  than  identity 
can  be  supposed  to  be  transferred  from  one  sub- 
stance to  another.  A  removal  of  the  essence  must 
be  a  destruction  of  the  being ;  and  a  destruction  of 
the  Ijcing  must  inevitably  prevent  an  exchange  of 
nature.     In  fine,  to  suppose  that  matter  can  become 


Sect.  IV.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  419 

spirit,  or  that  spinit  can  become  matter,  its  original 
nature  still  remaining,  is  an  evident  contradiction, 
and  therefore' never  can  be  admitted. 

But,  though  the  supposition  that  matter  can  be- 
come spirit,  and  that  spirit  can  become  matter,  in- 
voh^es  an  evident  contradiction  ;  it  is  not  to  be  pre- 
sumed, that  we  have  any  real  knowledge  of  the  in- 
ternal essence  of  either.  Many  latent  qualities  may 
be  concealed  in  both  substances,  which  may  unfold 
themselves  in  eternity,  and  point  out  an  approxima- 
tion to  each  other,  in  their  sensible  qualities,  of  which 
at  present  we  can  have  no  conception.  And  per- 
haps through  those  latent  qualities,  which  have  hi- 
therto eluded  the  researches  of  philosophy,  their 
nominal  affinity  may  be  so  great,  as  to  leave  no 
distant  qualities  for  finite  discrimination. 

Whether  the  nominal  essences  of  substances  can 
be  so  far  changed,  as  to  have  no  specific  quality, 
through  which  we  shall  be  able  to  distinguish  the 
distinct  identiiy  of  these  substances,  is  a  question 
which  we  feel  ourselves  incompetent  to  decide.  It 
is,  however,  not  improbable,  that  something  analo- 
gous thereto  will  be  the  case.  For,  since  we  soiv 
not  that  body  which  shall  be,  the  change  must  be 
amazingly  great ;  not  only  in  the  modification  of  its 
being,  but  also  in  its  component  parts.  And  there- 
fore, when  the  resurrection  of  the  body  shall  take 
place,  all  tlie  known  properties  of  matter  may  retire 
from  our  future  perceptions,  which  without  doubt, 
will  be  considerably  changed,  and  become  as  invi- 


420      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

sible  and  unknown,  as  those  latent  properties  now 
are,  which  are  included  in  both  matter  and  spirit. 

The  changes  which  our  organs  and  poivers  of 
perception  must  undergo,  will  without  doubt  consi- 
derably contribute  towards  the  concealment  of  those 
sensible  qualities,  which,  I  have  presumed,  will  un- 
dergo a  change.  If  then  our  modes  of '  perception 
shall  be  changed ;  if  our  bodily  orgajis  shall  be 
changed ;  if  our  bodies  themselves  shall  be  changed, 
as  well  as  all  external  objects,  who  can  say  what 
effects  may  not  be  produced  ?  Sensible  qualities, 
without  all  doubt,  will  vary ;  and  a  variation  of 
sensible  qualities  in  matter,  in  its  approaches  to- 
wards perfection,  must  increase  its  affinity  towards 
spirit,  and  conduct  it  to  those  exalted  regions,  in 
which  our  contemplations  are  lost. 

But,  notwithstanding  those  important  changes 
which  our  bodies  sjiall  undergo ;  they  will  without 
doubt  be  chiefly  confined  to  those  sensible  qualities 
through  which  the  identity  of  matter  is  at  present 
known.  Amidst  these  changes  of  our  bodies,  the 
real  essence  must  be  preserved  entire ;  because  our 
bodies  will  remain  the  same.  The  qualities  may  be 
changed,  through  the  causes  which  have  been  men- 
tioned, without  aifecting  the  essence  of  matter,  what- 
ever it  may  be ;  its  refinement  maj*  render  it  so 
subtle,  that  to  touch  it  will  be  difficult,  and  it  may, 
though  material,  approximate  to  spirit. 

The  germ  of  future  life,  wliich  we  have  already 
considered,  dilated  in  all  its  parts,  and  diffused 
through  those  spaces  which  now  bound  the  extremi- 
ties of  our  corporeal  being,   may  contain  all   the 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  421 

matter  which  shall  survive  the  grave.  If  this  be 
admitted,  its  expansion  must  make  it  subtle ;  and 
it  is  not  improbable  that,  with  an  eye  to  this,  St. 
Paul  denominated  that  collection  of  matter  which 
sliall  adhere  to  our  souls  hereafter,  a  spiritual  body, 
to  which  it  must  in  this  case  approach,  through  the 
mere  exility  of  its  nature. 

In  this  view,  the  expression  becomes  at  once  in- 
telligible and  sublime.  The  boldness  of  the  figure 
obtains  sanction,  from  the  subject  to  which  it  is  ap- 
plied ;  and  perhaps  the  whole  compass  of  language 
will  scarcely  have  afforded  an  expression,  so  concise, 
so  appropriate  to  the  subject,  and  so  sublime.  We 
may  therefore  conclude  with  safety,  that  those  bo- 
dies which  shall  be  raised  from  the  dust  of  death, 
whatever  may  be  the  internal  constitution  of  their 
natures,  or  the  whole  mass  of  component  parts;  will 
be  purged  from  those  gross  materials  which  now 
incorporate  with  their  purer  essence.  And  we  may 
also  learn  from  the  language  of  St.  Paul,  that  through 
those  refinements  which  shall  take  place,  the  infinite 
distances  which  how  lie  between  matter  and  spirit, 
will  be  so  far  overcome  as  the  nature  of  their  dis- 
tinct essences  will  admit :  and  that  matter  shall  be 
so  ^  clianged  from  its  present  condition,  as  to  sus- 
t;in  a  new  appellation. 

The  view,  which  St.  Paul  appears  to  have  taken, 
seems  to  liave  been  this.  He  places  our  bodies  in 
their  present  condition,  at  an  inconceivable  distance 
from  spirit;  and  considers  our  future  bodies  as 
formed  of  refined  materials,  and  standing  between 


423     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

these  vast  extremes.  In  tracing  their  resemblance, 
from  their  sensible  qualities,  they  evidently  appear- 
ed to  lie  at  a  greater  distance  from  what  they  are  at 
present,  than  from  pure  spirit  with  which  they  M^ere 
compared.  And,  in  consequence  of  that  resem- 
blance, he  selected  his  language,  and  denominated 
them  spiritual  bodies. 

From  fact,  the  apostle  proceeds  to  order;  and, 
after  having  pointed  out  the  changes  which  shall  take 
place,  he  states  the  progress  of  their  accomplishment 
in  the  following  words.  Howbeit,  that  is  not  Jirst 
7vhic/i  is  spiritual^  but  that  which  is  natural ;  and  af- 
terwards that  which  is  spiritual^  (verse  the  forty- 
sixth.) 

We  learn  from  this  passage,  that  the  stages 
through  which  we  pass  are  all  progressive,  from  the 
commencement  of  being  to  the  final  consummation 
©f  that  perfection  which  our  bodies  shall  attain, 
when  they  shall  for  ever  quit  mortality,  and  become 
comparatively  spiritual  in  their  natures.  Every 
stage  therefore  seems  necessary  in  the  grand  move- 
ment of  the  whole  :  they  are  so  many  links  in  the 
chain  of  individual  being,  at  once  dependent  and 
connective,  and  necessaiy  in  their  several  stations  to 
the  final  result  of  all.  The  seminal  parts  are' ne- 
cessary to  the  embryo;  the  embryo  to  the  perfect 
body ;  and  the  body  to  that  material  perfection, 
which  shall  be  attained  in  another  life.  The  man- 
ner of  existence  seems  as  necessary,  as  the  condi- 
tion in  which  it  must  appear  in  each  of  the  interme- 
diate stages.     Life  commences  with  the  organic  and 


Sect.  IV.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  423 

vegetative  mode ;  vegetative  life  soon  loses  itself  in 
that  which  is  animal ;  animal  life  subsides  at  the 
hour  of  death,  ajid  gives  place  to  that  life  in  which 
we  shall  neither  marry  nor  be  given  in  marriage,  but 
in  which  we  shall  be  as  the  angels  of  God.  Thus, 
virtual  existence  shall  issue  in  that  which  is  formal ; 
formal  existence  shall  commence  with  an  animal 
body  ;  and  finally  issue  in  that  body  which  St.  Paul 
has  denominated  spiritual. 

Nor  can  we  conceive,  that  either  of  these  stages 
or  modes  of  existence  can  be  suspended  or  changed. 
The  progress  is  established  by  laws,  which  are  im- 
mutable ;  and  the  order,  cannot  be  inverted.  The 
pai'ts  in  this  progTessive  arrangement,  are  not  only 
necessaiy  in  themselves  to  the  perfection  of  being ; 
but  ai'e  essentially  necessary  in  that  particular  sta- 
tion in  which  they  are  fixed.  The  establishment  is 
fixed  by  the  laws,  which  regulate  and  govern  na- 
ture ;  and  these  laws  must  be  repealed,  before  we 
can  suppose  the  order  of  this  process  to  be  inverted. 
That^  therefore,  is  not  first  which  is  spiritual.,  but 
that  -which  is  natural ;  and  afterwards  that  -which  is 
spiritual. 

To  tliis  general  principle,  there  seems,  however, 
to  be  one  remaikable  exception,  which  is  introduced 
in  verse  the  fifty-first.  Behold^  I  show  you  a  mys- 
tery ;  we  shall  Jiot  all  sleeps  but  xve  shall  all  be 
changed ;  in  a  moment,  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye  at 
the  last  tfump. 

That  die  exception  to  tlie  general  principle  here 
spoken  of,  is  an  exemption  from  death,  is  evident^ 


424     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII 

from  the  period  to  which  the  passage  alludes  ;  it  is 
at  the  last  trump.  '  And,  though  the  apostle  intro- 
duces the  first  person  in  the  plural  number ;  yet 
we  cannot  suppose  that  as  an  individual  he  had  any 
intention  to  include  himself  in  the  number  of  those, 
ivho  should  be  exempted  from  the  stroke  of  death. 
When,  therefore,  he  says  we  shall  7wt  all  sleeps  but 
we  shall  all  be  changed^  he  must  be  supposed  to 
allude  to  the  body  of  Christians  at  large,  in  all  ages 
of  the  world  ;  or  perhaps  to  the  human  race,  whom 
he  considers  to  be  one  family  ;  and  the  exception 
must  in  that,  or  any  view,  apply  to  those  who  should 
be  alive  in  the  latest  ages  of  the  world,  **  when  the 
swarms  shall  issue,  and  the  hive  shall  burn." 

But,  though  this  remarkable  exception  shall  take 
place,  through  which  the  last  generation  of  the  hu- 
man race  shall  be  exempted  from  the  stroke  of  death, 
yet  the  change  itself,  which  death  produces,  will  not 
be  dispensed  with.  For,  though  all  shall  not  sleep, 
yet,  all  shall  be  changed.  The  change  seems  abso- 
lutely necessary,  by  what  means  soever  it  may  be 
produced,  to  tlie  production  of  that  spiritual  body, 
which  we  have  already  considered.  The  change 
therefore,  through  which  these  last  individuiils  of 
mankmd  may  pass,  must  be,  in  its  nature,  equiva- 
lent to  that  which  death,  by  a  much  slower  and  more 
gradual  process,  shall  produce  upon  the  great  mass 
of  the  human  race.  It  is  a  change,  through  which 
mortality  shall  be  put  off:  and  through  which  that 
extraneous  matter,  which  shall  be  incorporated  with 
tliose  radical  jxirts  which  iue  destined  for  eternity, 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  -425 

shall  be  thrown  aside;  that  the  germ  or  radical 
parts,  separated  from  the  exuvice,  may  be  renewed 
in  immortal  vigour,  to  begin  a  mode  of  being  which 
shall  never  end. 

That  this  important  change  is  in  itself  progressive, 
according  to  the  general  principle^  it  is  natural  to 
conceive  both  from  reason  and  revelation ;  and  the 
inequalities  of  those  periods,  during  which  the  body 
shall  repose  in  the  grave,  we  have  endeavoured  to 
account  for  in  the  third  section  of  the  fifth  chapter. 
In  that  section  I  have  considered  that  no  given  pe- 
riod of  duration  is  absolutely  necessary  for  our  con- 
tinuance in  the  grave.  The  periods  will  be  as  vari- 
ous as  the  individuals ;  and  yet  the  bodies  of  all 
will  be  as  ready  to  quit  their  gloomy  mansion,  as 
soon  as  the  trumpet  shall  utter  its  awful  sound. 

That  these  sentiments  are  congenial  with  those  of 
St.  Paul,  is  evident  from  verse  the  ffty-Jirst,  which 
we  now  have  under  consideration.  But  inequalities 
of  time  do  not  bound  the  apostle's  views.  He  pro- 
ceeds farther,  and  tells  us,  that  though  all  shall  be 
changed,  all  shall  not  taste  of  death.  It  is  true,  he 
views  it  as  an  astonishing  circumstance  ;  and  ushers 
it  into  view  as  a  deviation  from  general  principles, 
which  we  cannot  easily  comprehend.  He  tells  us  that 
it  is  a  mystery,  and  as  such  it  evidently  appears.  At 
the  same  time,  it  is  a  mystery  that  he  has  shewed 
us  in  point  of  fact,  though  the  circumstances  of  its 
accomplishment  be  perfectly  concealed.  We  see 
with  sufficient  plainness  that  it  must  be  so ;  but  what 

L  1 1 


i26     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VIT- 

the  nature  of  that  proceiss  may  be,  is  not  elearly  fc- 
vealed. 

Of  this,  however,  we  are  assured,  that  the  change 
shall  be  instantaneous,  instead  of  prop^'essive ;  and 
perhaps  one  short  niunient  will  accomplish  that 
Work,  which  on  some  human  bodies  had  been  in  a 
state  of  progression  for  more  than  five  thousand 
years.  In  a  moment^  in  the  twmkling  of  an  eycy 
nt  the  last  tnimp^  it  shall  be  effected ;  and  the 
cliange  which  death  administers  through  the  medium 
of  coniiption,  shall  be  accomplished  without  his 
aid. 

■  With  an  eye  to  the  process  of  nature,  this  point 
has  been  already  considered  in  the  sixth  section  of 
the  sixth  chapter.  The  length  of  tliat  period  through 
which  these  bodies  had  passed,  or  in  which  they 
had  -lain  m  a  seminal  state,  precluded  a  length  of 
time  in  tteir  final  stage.  But,  philosophy  could 
only  assure  us,  iJiat  this  stage  must  necessarily  be 
short,'  The  change  which  appeared  absolutely  ne- 
cessan^,  required  a  period  of  duration  in  order  to 
its  completion ;  and  as  nothing  but  the  common 
process  appeared  necessary  to  its  completion,  phi- 
losophy directed  our  attention  to  the  gra^e.  St. 
iPaul,  however,  instructed  in  a  better  school,  has  pe- 
netrated the  cloud  which  hovered  over  our  re- 
searches, and  told  us  in  a  few  words  how  the  mighty 
work  shall  be  performed.  He  has  revealed  to  us 
that  secret  which  God  had  revealed  to  him  ;  and 
told  us  that  important  mystery  which  must  otherwise 
have  been  conce;Ued.     It  is  therefore  from  him  wc 


i3?Qt.  IV.3  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  .427 

learn,  that  we  shall  not  all  ^leep,  but  we  shall  all  be 
changed^  in  a  moment^  in  the  twinkling  of  an  eye^ 
at  tlie  last  trunip^  For  the  trumpet  shall  sound^ 
and  the  dead  shall  b^  raised  incQrruptible,  and  we 
shall  be  changed,  (verse  the  fifty- second.) 

Hence  then  \ve  learn  from  the  verse  last  quoted, 
that  in  one  awful  moment,  the  sound  of  the  trumpet, 
the  change  of  the  living,  ajid  the  resurrection  of 
■the  dead  to  a,  state  of  incorruptibility,  shall  take 
place.  Human  nature  must  then  uiidergo  its  final 
renovation,  and  enter  upon  the  commencement  of 
that  state  of  existence,  which  shall  know  nothing 
either  of  intermission,  of  change,  or  of  termination. 
Of  those  bodies,  which  had  mouldered  in  the  grave, 
and  passed  through  the  process  of  corruption ;  and 
those  which  had  sustained  the  changes  which  sup- 
planted death,  no  difference  will  probably  hereafter 
remain.  In  both  cases,  mortality  is  swallowed  up 
of  life,  and  every  vestige  of  corruption  is  done 
iiway.  No  distinction  can  therefore  remain  between 
those  bodies,  which  are  totally  delivered  from  its  in- 
fluence ;  and  those  which  are  exempted  from  it  by 
passing  through  a  mysterious  change.  In  both 
cases,  the  germ  of  the  future  body  must  be  preserved 
from  destruction ;  and  whether  it  collect  around  it 
any  new  particles  or  not,  it  will,  without  all  doubt, 
put  fordi  those  latent  powers  which  now  are  in  au 
•embryo  state ;  while  it  will  be  dilated  through  all  its 
parts,  and  be  assimilated  to  that  mode  of  existence 
which  spiritual  su Instances  enjoy. 

But,   amidst  these  changes  which  our  bodies  will 
sustain,  there  is  one  of  peculiar  import,   which   St.. 


428     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VH. 

Paul  has  noticed  in  verse  the  fiftieth,  in  these  words, 
Now  this  I  say  unto  ijou,  brethren,  that  fiesh  and 
blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  God;  neither 
doth  corruption  inherit  incorruption. 

We  liave,  perhaps,  included  in  this  expression, 
the  most  astonishing  alteration  in  the  human  body, 
that  we  can  possibly  conceive.  It  includes  a  change, 
which  removes  those  parts  that  are  necessary  to  our 
present  state  of  existence ;  and  concurs  to  place  our 
bodies  in  tliat  astonishing  light,  which  the  preceding 
paragraphs  have  been  written  to  elucidate  and  con- 
firm. 

That  the  dead  shall  be  raised  iJicorruptible,  is 
the  plain  language  of  the  fifty- second  verse ;  and  it 
is  evident  that  this  verse  must  refer  to  the  body ; 
because  nothing  can  be  raised  but  that  which  had 
been  previously  sown ;  and  that  which  had  been 
soAvn  could  include  nothing  but  the  material  part. 
If  then  the  body  shall  rise  again,  and  those  of  the 
righteous  shall  enter  into  the  joy  of  their  Lord ;  and 
if  Jlcsh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God  ;  the  consequence  is  inevitable,  that  Jlesh  and 
blood  can  form  no  part  of  those  bodies  which  shall 
su7'vive  the  grave. 

Of  those  human  bodies  which  shall  be  destitute 
of  flesh  and  blood,  we  can  form  no  adequate  idea. 
The  bones,  were  they  to  remain,  would  not  be  a  hu- 
man body  J  they  would  form  but  an  unpleasant 
spectacle,  and  carry  with  them  evident  mai'ks  of 
mortality,  if  they  were  endued  with  life. 

But,  as  fiesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the  king- 
dom of  God,   nor  corruption  inherit  incorruption; 


Sect  IV.J  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  429 

we  have  no  more  reason  to  suppose  that  the  bones 
which  we  possess  will  survive  the  grave,  than  we  have 
to  expect  that  our  future  bodies  will  be  formed  of 
flesh  and  blood.  The  change  must  therefore  be 
radical  throughout  our  present  system  ;  whether  it 
be  effected  by  death,  or  by  that  instantaneous  revo- 
lution, which  shall  be  accomplished  without  his  de- 
legated power. 

The  associating  and  dispersing  atoms  which  con- 
stitute our  flesh  and  blood,  must  on  this  account  be 
considered  as  superfluous  matter ;  when  we  have 
our  eye  fixed  oh  that  body  which  shall  live,  when 
death  shall  be  destroyed.  These  atoms,  without  all 
doubt,  are  essentially  necessary  to  our  present  mode 
of  existence,  and  we  can  no  more  conceive  how  our 
bodies  can  exist,  as  bodies  without  flesh  and  blood, 
than  we  can  conceive  how  matter  can  exist  without 
gravitation,  or  without  any  of  its  sensible  qualities. 

But,  since  our  bodies  must  survive  the  ravages  of 
death,  and  exist  in  a  state  of  separation  from  flesh 
and  blood,  we  cannot  avoid  concluding,  that  Jlesh 
g.nd  blood  are  not  necessary  to  the  existence  of  the 
body  in  the  abstract.  Body,  therefore,  'must  even 
now  in  its  refined  and  philosophical  sense,  consist 
in  something  different  from  Jlesh  and  blood.  That 
which  is  necessaiy  to  the  existence  of  any  being 
never  can  be  removed  while  that  being  remains. 

But,  since  identity  cannot  be  transferred,  and 
since  a  period  will  arrive  when  those  bodies,  which 
we  now  have,  shall  be  raised  again  and  continue, 
in  point  of  identity,  the  same  for  ever,  without  the 
assistance  of  flesh  and  blood ;   the  identity  of  our 


4oO      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Ch^p.  VII, 

bodies  niust  now  consist  in  something,   witli  which 
flesh  and  blood  have  only  a  distant  connexion. 

Whatever  is  necessary  to  the  abstract  existence 
of  the  same  body  under  the  same  circumstances  for 
ever.  The  reverse  would  involve  some  palpable 
contradictions.  Since,  therefore,  a  period  will  ar- 
jive,  when  those  bodies  wliich  we  now  have,  shall 
commence  and  continue  a  state  of  existence  in  a 
region  where  flesh  and  blood  cannot  enter ;  the  con- 
clusion is  certain,  that  flesh  and  blood  can  form  no 
part  of  our  present  bodies,  when  we  abstract  them 
from  the  local  circumstances  of  time,  and  place^ 
and  modijication  of  substance. 

In  our  present  condition  and  situation,  flesh  and 
blood  form  a  necessary  part  of  our  bodies;  they 
form  indeed  the  most  essential  part  of  the  concrete, 
whether  we  look  upon  that  concrete  with  an  eye 
either  to  magnitude  or  utility.  And  indeed,  were 
we  to  fix  our  stand  within  the  circle  of  time,  and 
cast  no  look  beyond  the  grave-;  we  can  form  no 
other  conception  of  flesh  and  blood,  than  that  they 
arc  essential  parts  of  our  bodies,  and  therefore  in- 
separable from  them ;  and  that  the  loss  of  flesh  and 
blood  must  necessarily  be  tlie  totiil  loss  of  their 
being. 

But,  when  we  step  beyond  the  boundaries  of  time, 
and  take  our  stand  in  eternity ;  when  wo.  take  \Vith 
us  the  declarations  of  the  apostle,  that  the  dead 
shall  be  raised  wcorrupfible,  and  that  Jlesh  and 
blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdom  of  "'God;  the  the- 
ory of  our  last  paragraph  stands  inverted,  and  wc 
form  new  opinions  of  bodi/y  and  of  Jie$h  and  blood. 


6fct.  IV.3        OF  THE  HUiMAN  BODY.  431 

And,  when  to  this  tve  add,  that  our  bodks  shall 
exist  hereafter  in  a  state  of  incorruption,  in  power, 
in  glorify  and  even  become  comparatively  spiritual ; 
instead  of  considering  flesh  and  blood  in  the  charac- 
ter ef  essential  parts,  we  can  only  view  them  as 
necessary  appendages  of  being,  confined  to  those 
local  abodes  which  they  have  forsaken  for  ever. 

As,  therefore,  jlesh  and  blood  cannot  inherit  the 
kingdom  of  God,  nor  corruption  inherit  incorrup- 
tion  ;  those  corruptible  and  visible  parts,  \vhich  we 
behold,  must  disappear,  either  through  the  process 
of  the  grave,  or  of  that  change  which  shall  supersede 
its  necessity.  The  real  body,  which  shall  be  here- 
after, must  therefore  at  present  be  concealed  be- 
neath those  exuviae  which  shall  be  done  away  in. 
death.  It  seems  reserved  for  a  future  state,  of  exist- 
ence ;  while  those  parts  which  will  appear  as  ap- 
pendages from  eternity,  when  we  look  back  on  time, 
seem  destined  to  perform  the  functions  of  the  pre- 
sent life. 

In  what  then  can  we  presume  the  identity  of  our 
future,  as  well  as  present,  bodies  to  be  lodged,  but 
in  that  radical  stamen,  or  germ,  which  we  have  al- 
ready considered  and  supposed  ?  it  is  a  principle, 
which  will  admit  of  no  dispute ;  that  sameness  can 
never  be  transferred ;  it  is  equally  certain,  that  our 
bodies  shall  rise  again ;  and  it  is  equally  certain, 
that  fiesh  ayicl  blood  cannot  inherit  the  kingdojn  of 
God.  The  final  consequence  is,  therefore,  certain 
also,  that  when  we  view  our  bodies  in  eternity,  and 
look  back  on  the  stations  which  they  occupied,  and 
the  jtnaterials  with  which  they  ^vere  incorporated  > 


432     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VH. 

we  shall  be  able  to  distinguish  them  from  those  extra- 
neous particles,  with  which  they  were  united  ;  and 
from  this  view  we  can  now  conclude,  that  flesh  and 
blood  can  no  more  form  any  real  part  of  our  bodies, 
in  the  abstract,  than  they  can  inherit  the  kingdom  of 
God. 

The  final  result  of  the  preceding  reasoning,  which 
St.  Paul  has  adduced  in  favour  of  the  resurrection, 
and  of  those  changes  through  which  our  bodies  must 
pass,  in  order  to  the  attainment  of  that  felicity  and 
perfection  which  are  placed  beyond  the  reach  of 
death  ;  is  summed  up  in  verse  the  tliirty-third.  In 
this  verse  he  has  assured  us,  that  this  corruptihle 
must  put  on  incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on 
immortality. 

In  this  point  of  immortality  all  those  changes, 
Vv-hich  we  have  been  contemplating,  happily  meet 
together ;  and  those  private  dissertations,  which  the 
great  apostle  had  introduced  in  the  intertiiediate 
stages  of  his  arguments  and  reasonings,  were  all 
conducive  to  this  general  and  important  fact.  The 
inter\^ening  obstacles  have  been  removed  by  an  ap- 
peal to  that  power  whidi  is  infinite,  or  obviated  by 
a  happy  anticipation.  The  process  of  nature  has 
taught  us,  that  difficulties  iu'c  no  arguments  against 
certainty ;  and  that  the  wonders  m  hich  we  expect, 
«.rc  not  greater  than  those  ^vliich  we  have  already 
tiecn. 

That  this  corruption  should  put  on  incorruption, 
St.  Paul  hrtd  told  us  in  efiect  in  many  preceding 
jnirts  of  this  chapter ;  and  many  of  his  observations 
tended  to  shew,  how  the   great  event  should   be 


Sect.  IV.]  OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY  433 

brought  to  pass.  But,  in  this  place,  his  sentiments 
are  delivered  in  express  and  unequivocal  terms. 
The  whole  passage  must  necessarily  apply  to  the 
body,  because  that  alone  is  mortal,  of  all  that  be- 
longs to  man.  If  then  this  corruptible  shall  put  on 
incorruption,  and  this  mortal  must  put  on  immorta- 
lity,  the  fact  itself  is  placed  beyond  all  dispute,  whe- 
ther the  process  of  its  accomplishment  be  compre- 
hensible or  not  It  was  sufficient  to  shew,  that  the 
fact  itself  contained  nothing  within  it  repugnant 
either  to  philosophy  or  reason ;  but  the  arguments 
adduced  have  gone  much  further;  they  have  pro- 
ved a  congeniality  with  the  established  principles  of 
both,  and  proceeded  so  far  as  to  convince  the  un- 
prejudiced part  of  mankind,  that  they  have  no  rea- 
son to  imagine  it  a  thing  incredible  that  God  should 
raise  the  dead. 

The  credibility  of  an  abstruse  fact,  adds  dignity 
to  tliat  authority  which  pronounces  it  certain; 
without  increasing  the  authenticity  of  any  evidence 
which  may  be  deemed  divine.  Authority  which  is 
divine  needs  no  foreign  support ;  it  stands  on  its 
own  intrinsic  excellence,  and  commands  assent ; 
and  in  this  view,  the  apparent  incredibility  of  the 
fact  is  no  argument  against  the  certainty  of  it, 
while  we  are  assured  that  the  authority  is  from  God. 
But  the  incredibility  of  the  fact,  may  render  the 
authority  questionable ;  and  in  proportion  as  the 
persuasion  of  its  incredibility  gains  strength  in  the 
mind,  these  doubts  will  increase,  because  nothing 
that  includes  a  Contradiction  can  possibly  come 
Mmm 


434      IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

from  God.  The  arguments,  therefore,  which  St. 
Paul  condescended  to  use  in  confirmation  of  the 
credibility  of  that  fact,  which  in  point  of  certainty 
he  referred  to  divine  power,  added  dignity  to  that 
authority  by  which  he  spoke.  The  same  illustra- 
tions which  tended  to  render  the  fact  itself  credible, 
tended  also  to  remove  all  suspicions  from  that 
authority,  on  which  the  certainty  of  the  fact  ulti- 
mately stood.  Hence  then,  rational  and  philoso- 
phical arguments,  when  applied  to  subjects  of  Di- 
vine revelation,  though  they  cannot  add  to  the  au- 
thenticity of  the  fact,  yet  tend  to  remove  all  suspi* 
cions  from  that  authority,  on  which  revelation  ob- 
tains our  assent. 

Thus  far  the  elucidative  arguments  and  illustrative 
examples  which  have  been  adduced,  are  of  impor- 
tance to  those  whose  belief  is  unshaken  in  the  reve- 
lation which  we  have  from  God.  But,  when  from 
them  we  turn  to  those  who  deny  all  authority,  and 
place  their  only  evidences  of  certainty  in  the  credi- 
bility and  probability  of  the  fact  itself,  every  argu- 
ment which  can  remove  even  a  shadow  of  a  doubt 
must  be  of  the  last  importance.  The  appeals  which 
St.  Paul  has  made  to  the  process  of  vegetation, 
to  the  different  species  of  flesh,  and  the  various 
glories  which  the  heavenly  bodies  exhibit  to  our 
senses  ;  are  proofs,  that,  to  convince  the  sadducean 
generations  of  men,  in  all  ages  of  the  world,  was 
one  object  which  he  had  in  view.  When,  therefore, 
we  join  these  two  parts  of  his  method  together,  and 
combine  argument  with  authority ;  when  we  con- 
sider the  former  as  applying  to  those  who  deiiy  the 


Sect.  IV.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  435 

resurrection,  and  the  latter  to  those  who  admit  it ; 
and  when  to  this  we  add  the  dignity  which  that 
confers  on  this^  the  whole  forms  a  system  of  evi- 
dence, in  which  philosophy  and  authority  combine 
to  produce  conviction. 

From  the  positive  declaration  of  verse  the  fifty- 
third,  which  we  have  been  considering,  the  same  in* 
spired  author  proceeds,  in  verse  the  fifty-fourth,  to 
tell  us  what  those  immediate  effects  are  which  shall 
succeed  the  great  events  which  he  had  previously 
described.  *Sb,  when  this  corruptible  shall  have 
put  on  incorruptiony  and  this  mortal  shall  have 
put  on  immortality y  then  shall  be  brought  to  pass 
the  saying  that  is  -written.  Death  is  swallowed  up  in 
victory. 

The  saying  that  is  written  was  delivered  in  pro- 
phecy more  than  seven  hundred  and  fifty  years 
prior  to  this  appeal  which  the  apostle  makes.  It 
may  be  found  in  Isaiah,  the  twenty-fifth  and 
eighth  ;  and  to  be  convinced  that  it  alluded  to  the 
resurrection  of  the  body  from  the  grave,  we  need 
only  advert  to  the  application  of  it,  which  St.  Paul 
has  made.  The  words  of  Isaiah  are.  He  will 
swallow  up  death  in  victory ;  and  the  Lord  God 
shall  wipe  away  tears  from  off  all  faces  ;  and  the 
rebuke  of  his  people  shall  he  take  away  from  off  all 
the  earthy  for  the  Lord  hath  spoken  it. 

It  is,  however,  but  of  little  consequence  to  us, 
whether  these  words  which  predict  the  destruction 
of  deathy  originated  with  Isaiah  or  St.  Paul.  We 
are  more  deeply  interested  in  the  issue  than  the  ori. 


436    IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

gin ;  and  it  is  to  that  we  must  turn  our  thoughts, 
The  Idst  enemy  that  shall  be  destroyed  is  death; 
and  the  victory  which  shall  be  obtained  over  this 
gloomy  conqueror,  must  finally  liberate  the  human 
race.  The  death  of  the  captor  must  manumit  the 
captives,  and  set  the  prisoners  free.  Death,  when 
destroyed,  can  be  followed  by  no  successor.  The 
power  will  admit  of  no  delegation ;  when  once  sub- 
dued, it  is  for  ever  lost;  and  those  who  shall  be  res- 
cued from  his  gloomy  prison  can  die  no  more. 

It  is  of  no  consequence  to  the  argument  which 
St.  Paul  has  used,  whether  we  view  death  personi- 
fied in  the  character  of  a  tyrant^  as  a  positive 
power,  or  as  the  mere  negntion  of  life.  In  either 
view,  the  result  is  conspicuous,  and  we  are  conduct- 
ed to  a  point,  in  which  these  different  views  must 
meet  at  last.  If  death  be  a  tijrant,  he  must  be 
subdued.  If  death  be  a  positive  pcnver,  a  victory 
must  be  obtained  over  it.  And  if  death  be  nothing 
more  than  the  mere  negation  of  life,  it  must  be 
overcome.  In  either,  the  conquest  of  death  is  cer- 
tain ;  and  the  point  in  which  these  different  views 
will  meet  at  last,  must  be  the  final  restoration  of  hu- 
man nature  from  the  tomb  to  life. 

The  last  of  these  views,  in  which  we  ha%'e  just  con- 
templated death,  appears  to  be  that  which  best  ac- 
cords with  our  philosophical  inquiries,  and  our 
rational  conceptions  ;  and,  as  a  mere  negation  of  life 
and  power,  it  seems  most  natural  to  consider  death. 
As  a  person,  he  can  only  have  a  poetical  exist- 
ence, which  may  furnish  an  allusion,  or  give  per- 
fection to  a  rhetorical  figure.     Yet,  if  we  view  him 


Sect.  IV.]         OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  437 

even  in  this  capacity,  he  must  be  slain.  Under  the 
idea  of  positive  ponver,  it  is  impossible  that  we  can 
have  any  accurate  conceptions  of  death.  A  power 
which  is  positive,  must  exist  before  it  can  produce 
any  effects;  otherwise  the  effect  must  be  coeval  with 
its  cause,  which  is  at  once  impossible  and  absurd. 
And,  as  all  causes  must  exist  prior  to  their  effects,  if 
death  be  a  positive  power,  it  can  have  no  necessary 
connexion  with  those  effects  which  are  presumed  to 
result  from  it.  And  if  there  can  be  no  necessary  con- 
nexion between  death  and  those  effects  which  result 
from  it,  death  may  exist  though  nothing  die,  which 
is  an  absurdity  that  cannot  well  be  exceeded.  I ' 
think,  therefore,  that  the  conclusion  is  certain,  that 
death  cannot  be  positive  power.  As,  therefore, 
death  cannot  be  personal,  nor  be  justly  contemplated 
under  the  idea  of  positive  power  ;  it  can  be  seen  in 
no  other  light  than  that  of  the  negation  of  life. 

If  death  be  the  negation  of  life,  and  be  destroyed, 
the  negation  of  life  must  be  done  away  ;  and  if  the 
negation  of  life  be  done  away,  life  must  be  restored, 
and  the  body  must  rise  again.  If  the  negation  of 
life  be  done  away,  it  can  only  be  done  away  from 
those  who  are,  or  who  shall  be,  in  a  state  of  actual 
death ;  because  it  is  in  these  regions  alone,  that  the 
negation  of  life  resides.  And,  if  from  them  who  are 
in  a  state  of  actual  death,  the  negation  of  life  shall  be 
removed,  as  there  can  be  no  medium  between  posi- 
tive existence  and  the  negation  of  life,  nothing  ap- 
pears which  can  prevent  the  resurrection  of  the  dead. 

That  death,  whatever  may  be  its  nature,  shall  be 


438     IDENTITY  AND  RESURRECTION  [Chap.  VII. 

destroyed,  is  the  plain  language  of  scripture  ;  (verse 
the  twenty-sixth,)  and  that  it  shall  be  swallowed  up 
in  victor}^  is  the  plain  language  of  verse  the  fifty- 
fourth.  As,  then,  tlie  premises  are  unquestionable, 
and  the  adductions  which  have  been  made  are  too 
evident  to  be  denied ;  we  are  led  by  guides  which 
will  not  deceive  us,  to  the  same  common  conclusion 
which  we  have  repeatedly  drawn ;  that  those  who 
sleep  in  the  dust  of  the  earth  must  awake  to  immor- 
tal life. 

That  the  conquest  wliich  death  obtains,  and  shall 
continue  to  obtain,  till  the  final  consummation  of  all 
things,  could  only  apply  to  the  material  part  of  man, 
is  too  obvious  to  require  a  moment's  proof.  The 
immaterial  part  of  man,  being  spiritual  in  its  nature, 
is  placed  beyond  the  reach  of  death.  The  remo- 
val of  death  can  therefore  only  apply  to  the  body, 
because  it  is  over  this  alone  that  death  extends  its 
sway.  The  victory  which  shall  be  obtained  over 
death,  must  be  a  removal  of  that  absence  of  life, 
under  which  the  human  body  lies ;  the  removal 
must  issue  in  the  reverse  ;  the  reverse  is  life  ;  and 
therefore  the  body  must  live  again. 

As  the  body  must  rise  again,  and  join  its  immate- 
rial partner,  both,  in  a  state  of  indissoluble  union, 
must  enter  into  a  state  either  of  punishments  or  re- 
wards, which  must  continue  for  ever.  It  is  the 
dread  of  future  punishment,  arising  from  a  con- 
sciousness of  guilt,  that  arms  death  with  all  its 
terrors,  and  makes  it  an  awful  thing  to  die.  Hence 
says  the  apostle,  the  sting  of  death  is  sin^  and  the 


Sect.  IV.]        OF  THE  HUMAN  BODY.  4^19 

strength  of  sin  is  the  law^  but  thanks  be  to  God 
which  giveth  us  the  victory  through  our  Lord 
Jesus  Christ. 

The  Redeemer  of  the  world  through  the  efficacy 
of  his  atonement,  is  the  foundation  of  all  our  hopes. 
It  is  through  his  merit  that  the  sting  of  death  is 
drawn ;  and  the  strength  of  sin  is  obviated,  by  the 
expiation  which  he  has  made.  Through  an  interest 
in  him,  we  contemplate  the  resurrection  of  our  bo- 
dies from  the  grave  with  calmness  and  tranquillity, 
as  an  object  of  our  wishes  rather  than  of  our  fears. 
Though  the  grave  is  a  gloomy  passage,  it  is  but  a 
subterraneous  road  to  bliss.  It  is  with  an  eye  to 
that  glory  which  shall  be  revealed  hereafter,  that 
St.  Paul  concludes  the  chapter  which  we  have  in 
part  considered,  with  the  wholesome  and  important 
advice,  which  he  has  seriously  addressed  to  all  true 
believers ;  Therefore,  my  beloved  brethren,  be  ye 
stedfast,  immoveable,  always  aboundi?ig  in  the 
work  of  the  Lord ;  forasmuch  as  ye  know  that 
your  labour  is  not  in  vain  in  the  Lord. 


Fj^ris. 


